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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of History of a World of Immortals
-without a God, by Antares Skorpios
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: History of a World of Immortals without a God
-       Translated from an unpublished manuscript in the library of a
-       continental university
-
-Translator: Antares Skorpios
-
-Release Date: March 3, 2022 [eBook #67548]
-
-Language: English
-
-Produced by: Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading
-             Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from
-             images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF A WORLD OF
-IMMORTALS WITHOUT A GOD ***
-
-
-
-
-
-                                HISTORY
-                                   OF
-                          A WORLD OF IMMORTALS
-                             WITHOUT A GOD:
-                            TRANSLATED FROM
-_AN UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT IN THE LIBRARY OF A CONTINENTAL UNIVERSITY_.
-
-
-                                   BY
-
-                           ANTARES SKORPIOS.
-
-
-                               _DUBLIN_:
-
-                   WILLIAM M^CGEE, 18, NASSAU STREET.
-
-                    LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & CO.
-
-                                 1891.
-
-
-
-
-              _Printed at_ THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, _Dublin_.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-                               CONTENTS.
-
-
-                               CHAPTER I.
-
-                                                                    PAGE
- _Concerning the Birth and Education of Dr. Gervaas Van Varken, and
-   his Loathing and Abhorrence of the whole Human Race—How he met
-   an Ancient Parsee merchant in Bombay, and got an introduction to
-   the Great Magician of Thibet—How he went to Thibet; what he
-   learned there, and how he departed from it_,                        1
-
-
-                               CHAPTER II.
-
-                  HERE BEGINS THE HISTORY OF HESPEROS.
-
- _Of the shining city of Lucetta—How Dr. Van Varken met an apparent
-   Yahoo—Of the great astonishment of the citizens at sight of the
-   Doctor, and how they gave him in charge to a committee of
-   three—How the committee learned the Dutch tongue, and showed the
-   Doctor sundry strange and wonderful maps_,                         19
-
-
-                              CHAPTER III.
-
- _Concerning Physical Hesperography—Of the great Cloud-Screen, and
-   its effect on Terrestrial Astronomy—Of the Chronic Equatorial
-   Tornado, and of its extraordinary importance in the history of
-   Hesperos—Of the Giant Mountains; and of the Flora and Fauna_,      35
-
-
-                               CHAPTER IV.
-
- _Of the Origin of Rational Life in Hesperos—Of the Cyclical
-   Organic Life—Of the Law of Evanescence by Mortal Lesion—The
-   story of the Hesperian Cain—Of the Law of Evanescence by adverse
-   Metronomic Balance—How a Court of Justice sentenced a culprit to
-   Eternal Punishment; and how the culprit escaped_,                  45
-
-
-                               CHAPTER V.
-
- _Of the causes of the high civilization of Hesperos—Of the
-   relations of the sexes—Of private personal property—Of property
-   in Land; and of the methods of Eviction—Of the Jacks and Masters
-   of all Trades_,                                                    66
-
-
-                               CHAPTER VI.
-
- _Of the Universal Language—Of the Universal Empire and first
-   measures of the World-Parliament—Of the great progress of the
-   Hesperians in all Physical Science; and of their fruitless
-   craving after the Unknown God_,                                    74
-
-
-                              CHAPTER VII.
-
- _Of the first attempt to pass the Equatorial Tornado; and its
-   tragical issue—Of the attempt to pass the Cloud-Screen_,           85
-
-
-                              CHAPTER VIII.
-
- _Of the great courage of three Engineers—How they passed the
-   Screen and saw the Host of Heaven—How they further discovered a
-   Disk of Unknown Fire—Of the reception of the news throughout the
-   world—Of the construction of a mountain Observatory; and of the
-   rapid growth of Astronomical knowledge_,                           98
-
-
-                               CHAPTER IX.
-
- _Of the development of World-Weariness in Hesperos; and of the
-   second attempt to cross the Equatorial Tornado—How the Forlorn
-   Hope succeeded, and discovered a City of the Dead—How the
-   terrible mystery of Evanescence was explained; and how the crew
-   set out on their return_,                                         113
-
-
-                               CHAPTER X.
-
- _The oldest inhabitant of the South relates its history—How the
-   awful intelligence was received in the North_,                    128
-
-
-                               CHAPTER XI.
-
-               HERE BEGINS THE MODERN HISTORY OF HESPEROS.
-
- _How the two Hemispheres were amalgamated—concerning the
-   Sympathetic Telegraph; and how the great astonishment of the
-   Hesperians at the first sight of the Doctor was fully
-   explained_,                                                       135
-
-
-                              CHAPTER XII.
-
- _Of the great social changes which resulted from the discovery of
-   the Indestructibility of Life_,                                   150
-
-
-                              CHAPTER XIII.
-
- _How the Doctor delivered a course of lectures on the History of
-   the Earth and its Inhabitants—Of the effects of his ghastly
-   description—Of the attempt of two Hesperians to reach the Earth;
-   and of its unsatisfactory result_,                                159
-
-
-                              CHAPTER XIV.
-
- _Of the further wanderings of Dr. Van Varken—Of his visits to
-   Australis and the great Observatory—Of a strange physical Theory
-   concerning the Tornado—Supposed cause of the Doctor’s return to
-   the Earth_,                                                       171
-
-
-
-
-  ‘That we are to live hereafter, is just as reconcilable with the
-  scheme of atheism, and as well to be accounted for by it, as that we
-  are now alive is; and therefore nothing can be more absurd than to
-  argue from that scheme, that there can be no future state.’—BISHOP
-  BUTLER.
-
-
-
-
-                               CHAPTER I.
-
-  Concerning the Birth and Education of Dr. Gervaas Van Varken, and his
-      Loathing and Abhorrence of the whole Human Race—How he met an
-      Ancient Parsee merchant in Bombay, and got an introduction to the
-      Great Magician of Thibet—How he went to Thibet; what he learned
-      there, and how he departed from it.
-
-
-[Mr. Gervaas Van Varken was a tradesman who flourished on the Boomptjes
-of Rotterdam in the early years of the last century. His business was
-that of a ship-chandler—for so we may approximately translate the
-inscription, ‘Koopman en Touwwerk en andere Scheepsbehoeften,’ which
-appeared at the side of his door.
-
-Van Varken drove a tolerably brisk trade, and, being of extremely
-miserly habits, succeeded in accumulating a respectable amount of
-capital. He was a man of very morose and sulky disposition, and, when he
-had reached the period of middle age, married a Vrouw who was not only
-gifted with a moral character closely resembling his own, but had,
-moreover, embraced Calvinistic views of the most austere type.
-
-This disagreeable couple were blessed with a small family consisting of
-one son, called Gervaas, after the name of his father, and this Gervaas,
-junior, was the author of the diary before us.
-
-The personal experiences of this unlucky youth were such that his
-imbibing the very gloomiest views of things in general, and, in
-particular, of human nature, was a simple matter of necessity. In his
-earliest childhood he arrived at the conclusion that there was
-absolutely nothing he could do which did not issue in a sound thrashing,
-administered either by his father or his mother—supplemented, in the
-latter case, by energetic assurances that his present suffering was a
-mere joke in comparison with the elaborate and abiding torments in store
-for him, as a vessel of wrath, in the next world. In addition to these
-personal severities the child spent the greater part of his time locked
-up in an empty room, imperfectly clothed, more than half-starved, and
-with nothing whatever to do but reflect on the inscrutable problem of
-human life.
-
-When he was ten years old he was sent to a school kept by a savage old
-friend of the ship-chandler, who carried out the parental system of
-discipline with even greater vigour; and thus it resulted that when in
-course of time Gervaas, junior, was moved to the University of Leyden to
-study for the medical profession—a profession for which he was destined
-by his father, without the slightest consideration for the young man’s
-personal wishes—he had contracted such a habit of intense misanthropy
-that it remained with him as his leading characteristic for life.
-
-Gervaas, though by nature of a somewhat crusty disposition, was by no
-means a cruel man—at least he had none of that delight in inflicting
-pain, as such, which characterizes some of our species. In fact he was
-very fond of most sorts of animals, and confined his malevolence
-strictly to the human race, of which his experience had been so
-unfavourable. When his medical education was completed he was sent, as
-surgeon, for several voyages in an English vessel commanded by another
-malignant friend of his father; and assuredly the rough and coarse life
-on board had no tendency to counteract his pessimistic estimate of
-mankind. The British mariners, with their habitual contempt of
-foreigners, considered Doctor Van, as they called him, an eligible
-subject for all sorts of violent practical jokes; which, to do him
-justice, he retaliated, whenever he got the chance, by the infliction of
-lingering torments in various surgical operations.
-
-The doctor, who had a considerable gift for languages, soon picked up
-English, and a copy of the, just then published, ‘Voyages of Captain
-Gulliver’ falling into his hands, he read them with intense interest;
-being specially delighted with the account of the crazy philosophers in
-the third voyage, and, above all, with the horrible description of the
-Yahoos in the fourth. From this time, indeed, he seems to have
-invariably used this term in speaking of his fellow-men.
-
-When he had reached the age of about thirty years his mother died; and
-as his father did not long survive her, the young man inherited an
-amount of property which afforded him a tolerable income, and rendered
-him independent of his profession. He resolved to abandon it and visit
-the East; for, having made several voyages to Bombay, he had come to the
-conclusion that the Yahoos of that part of the world were less
-intolerable than the European specimens of the breed.
-
-So he took his passage in an English East Indiaman, and, after an
-uneventful voyage, landed at Bombay in the early part of the year 1729.
-As soon as the anchor was cast in the roads he lost not a moment in
-quitting the ship, having with difficulty escaped the indignity of being
-obliged to shake hands with the Yahoo captain. On landing he took up his
-quarters at the house of a trader to whom he had a letter of
-introduction; and, shortly afterwards, by the merest accident, he
-encountered in the street an old Parsee merchant, who, though of course
-a Yahoo, seems not to have been absolutely intolerable in the eyes of
-the over-sensitive misanthrope, whose notes, at this point, become
-continuous for the first time.]
-
-‘As I was walking in the shade of a row of trees which lined the street,
-I was accosted by a very ancient merchant of the Parsee persuasion, who
-asked me if I had not come from England in the ship which arrived that
-morning. I replied that I had been a passenger in her, and we fell into
-conversation. The old gentleman was not nearly so offensive to the
-senses as are the European Yahoos, and he was perfectly well acquainted
-with the English tongue. I found that, in the exercise of his calling,
-he had travelled a great deal in divers parts of Asia; and, from his way
-of talk, I gathered that the Yahoos of those countries were fully as
-abominable in his eyes as the European specimens of the breed were in
-mine own. This common sentiment of loathing for our neighbours proved to
-ourselves an occasion of union, and before long there was between us as
-warm a friendship as two Yahoos are capable of entertaining for each
-other.
-
-‘One day, as he was relating some of his adventures, he told me that, in
-the days of his youth, when travelling on mercantile business in the
-Himalayah Mountains, he chanced to meet a Thibetian gentleman named Koot
-Homi. Having on one occasion done a signal service to this Mr. Homi, it
-came to pass that the Thibetian, who was of a grateful turn of mind, had
-always showed himself a faithful friend to the Parsee. The old merchant
-further informed me that Homi was a man endowed with many and strange
-gifts; that the famous wonders worked by the Indian magicians or
-jugglers were the merest play of babies, when compared with the feats
-accomplished by Homi; and that if you only whispered his name into the
-ear of one of these magicians when engaged at his work, the magician
-would give a frightful howl, and run as if Beelzebub himself was in
-pursuit of him.
-
-‘Among other wonders wrought by this Homi was one which struck me as the
-most notable of all. This was the power of moving himself, and various
-articles in contact with his person, in some inscrutable way from one
-district of the earth’s surface to another, no matter how remote, and
-apparently in an instant of time. I asked my friend whether he had ever
-visited Mr. Homi in Thibet. He told me that he had been there, but only
-once; that a long and terrible journey had to be undertaken; frightful
-mountain-passes had to be surmounted; that the country in which the
-magician’s abode was fixed was inhabited by a strange society or
-brotherhood, the members of which were endowed with many of the powers
-possessed by Homi himself, who was their chief; and that access, unless
-by a special permission, which was very rarely granted, was an absolute
-impossibility.
-
-‘And hereupon the old man added an expression of his never-ceasing
-regret that he had not availed himself of his opportunity when in Thibet
-of endeavouring to persuade Mr. Homi to exercise his wonderful power
-upon him, either by transporting him wholly from the Yahoo regions, or,
-possibly, by transmuting him into a less hateful form. “I have never
-ceased to mourn over my stupidity in this respect,” he said, “and, were
-I only able for it, I should gladly repeat my visit to Thibet. But I am
-far too old to venture on the fatigues of such a journey. As for you,
-however, the case is quite different; you are an active and energetic
-man; and should you think it worth your while to try what might be done
-in your behalf in the way I have suggested, I will gladly give you a
-letter which will enable you to pass without hindrance from the
-Brotherhood to the head-quarters of Mr. Homi.” I thanked him very much
-for his offer, and asked him to let me think the matter over till next
-day, when I should give him my answer.
-
-‘The more I reflected on my friend’s kind offer the better was I pleased
-with the prospect of the journey. Inasmuch as life had become well-nigh
-intolerable, I cared but little for fatigue and danger. My time also was
-wholly at my own disposal. So next morning I told the Parsee that I
-gladly accepted his proposal; and he, without any delay, not only wrote
-the promised letter of introduction, but also drew up for my use an
-itinerary of the most convenient road from Bombay to Eastern Thibet,
-containing notices of the towns, distances, and various peculiarities of
-the countries through which it was necessary to pass.’
-
-[At this point the memoranda assume a very fragmentary form. This I have
-observed to be always the case when the doctor was actually engaged in
-travelling. When stationed for a time in some fixed locality he wrote
-out his observations pretty fully; but whenever he was moving about,
-mere hints are available for the guidance of the editor. His journey was
-evidently very long and arduous, and it certainly occupied several
-months. In its course many obstacles were plainly put in his way by the
-natives of the different territories which he had to traverse; and the
-annoyance thence arising greatly ruffled his temper, and seems to have
-increased to an almost incredible extent his abhorrence of the human
-race.
-
-At last his indomitable energy and perseverance were successful. He
-reached the mysterious Thibetian region; and, having exhibited the old
-Parsee’s letter, he was permitted by the Brotherhood to pass to the
-residence of their chief. Koot Homi received the doctor in a very
-friendly manner, and even declined to inspect his letter of
-introduction, assuring him that the chief of the occult Brotherhood had
-no need to do so. Van Varken seems to have resided with the chief for
-about five months, and was evidently admitted to great intimacy with the
-whole of the Brotherhood.
-
-One reason for this was clearly the very great interest taken by Homi in
-the ‘Voyages of Gulliver,’ a copy of which was presented to him by the
-doctor. In particular, the accounts of the philosophers in Lagado, and
-of the rational animals in the outward shape of horses, encountered on
-his fourth expedition, were listened to by the sage with eager
-attention. The chief does not seem to have even in the slightest degree
-doubted the veracity of Gulliver; but he certainly expressed the most
-intense contempt for the Lagado professors, laying much stress on the
-profundity of their stupidity in not having amended the deplorable
-condition of the Struldbrugs in Luggnagg, of whose existence the
-professors were, doubtless, aware. ‘Even when immortal life was given
-them to work upon, they were incompetent to ward off the effects of
-senile decay! Why, the merest tiro in our schools would be ashamed to
-allow the poor old Struldbrug to get into such a state,’ said he, with
-scornful indignation.
-
-But, though he showed much sympathy with Dr. Van Varken’s longing to be
-transmuted out of the species he so much abhorred, Mr. Homi did not hold
-out any hopes of success in so laudable an endeavour. ‘No,’ said he,
-‘many years of arduous preparation, to say nothing of rare natural
-gifts, are indispensable qualifications for such transformation; few
-even of the adepts are capable of it. But the power of instantaneous
-passage from one terrestrial point to another is far more easily arrived
-at.’
-
-And it appears that, after a few months’ probation, the secret of this
-process was actually communicated to the doctor; but under such rigid
-obligations to silence that no traces of its nature are to be found
-committed to writing. All that can be ascertained about it is this—that
-an instantaneous disintegration, and equally rapid reintegration of the
-ultimate molecules of the bodies to be moved is effected; that the
-transit is accomplished through the medium of the undulations of the
-ethereal vehicle which pervades all space; and that the rate of
-transmission is identical with that of the transmission of light,
-namely, about 186,000 miles in a second. Once more the notes become
-continuous.]
-
-I was greatly pleased at gaining this new and wonderful faculty of
-moving myself; but, after making a few successful essays, it seemed to
-me that, after all, I should not be much the better for its possession.
-Yahoos being everywhere spread over the face of the earth, wherever I
-moved I should still assuredly And them; and perhaps this was the reason
-why, as I was walking by myself one evening and chanced to see the
-planet Venus, or Hesperos, shining in the sky, the thought came into my
-mind that, inasmuch as the ether fills all the space between the
-planets, it might be just possible that the power of movement by
-disintegration of molecules, which, as yet, had only been essayed
-between places on the earth’s surface, might extend as far as the
-planets themselves.
-
-The moon, being far the nearest of the heavenly bodies, would naturally
-seem to afford the most promising opportunity for trying the experiment;
-but, having learned in Thibet that she is quite destitute of air, I
-resolved to try some other region; for I thought it would be quite
-useless to arrive there, and straightway perish for want of breath. If I
-could only get as far as Hesperos my chances of life would be much
-better, inasmuch as I was assured, by the same philosophers, that there
-is good reason for believing that planet to be very abundantly supplied
-with air. Moreover, it fortunately happened that she was just then
-approaching the position called by astronomers her inferior conjunction,
-so her distance from the earth was not much over twenty-five millions of
-miles.
-
-The main risk I should run in attempting to make this passage would
-evidently be the possibility, perhaps I should say the probability, of
-extinction of the vital force during the period of disintegration, which
-I estimated at a little more than two minutes. It was known to the
-Thibetian Brotherhood that the disintegrated particles moved with
-exactly the same speed as light; and as light requires about eight
-minutes to traverse the distance between the sun and the earth, two
-would nearly suffice to move it as far as Hesperos in her lower
-conjunction. Whether after such an interval of suspension the vital
-force would maintain sufficient energy to accomplish the reintegration
-on which continuance of bodily life depends, an actual experiment alone
-could show. But I cared but little for the risk. Life had long become
-hateful to me; a chance was now given to escape the society of the
-Yahoos, and all their abominations. I resolved to try my luck—at the
-worst I should only perish.
-
-I made no communication of my intention to the chief, lest perchance he
-should raise some objection to my intended enterprise; and, on the very
-next night, at ten o’clock, I went out, taking with me, in various
-pockets of the eastern dress which, for convenience in Asiatic travel, I
-had adopted in Bombay, sundry small articles for the toilet, also my
-silver watch, and an ingenious instrument for measuring quantities of
-heat, which had been sent me as a gift just before I left home, by my
-good friend, Mr. Gabriel Fahrenheit, of Amsterdam, who had lately
-invented it. I sat down on a rock by the side of the mountain; Hesperos
-was distinctly visible, though only a thin crescent of her illuminated
-face was turned towards the earth. Carefully noting the time, which was
-exactly thirty-seven minutes past ten, and having also marked the
-temperature, which was fifty-seven degrees of my thermometer, as the
-instrument is called, I accomplished the disintegration, indicating
-Hesperos as the goal.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER II.
-                  HERE BEGINS THE HISTORY OF HESPEROS.
-
-  Of the shining city of Lucetta—How Dr. Van Varken met an apparent
-      Yahoo—Of the great astonishment of the citizens at sight of the
-      Doctor, and how they gave him in charge to a committee of
-      three—How the committee learned the Dutch tongue, and showed the
-      Doctor sundry strange and wonderful maps.
-
-
-On recovering consciousness I found myself lying on what felt like soft
-grass on the steep side of a mountain. The sky was intensely dark, no
-stars were visible, and, of course, there was no moon. Before me, at a
-considerably lower elevation, and, as well as I could judge, at a
-distance of four or five miles, I saw what had the appearance of a very
-brilliantly illuminated city; the illumination was such as no artificial
-light known on earth could approach in splendour. So strong was it, that
-even at the distance of the place where I was sitting its effect was
-quite visible in lighting the hill. In front of the city was a large
-sheet of water, and on it were many moving bodies, probably ships, all
-of them lighted with the same strange radiance which pervaded the city.
-I looked at my watch, and, as might have been expected, I found that it
-still marked thirty-seven minutes past ten. I had stupidly forgotten
-that, during disintegration, the machinery could not have worked, so I
-was unable to verify my computation of the time required for the
-transit. The mercury in the thermometer quickly moved up to eighty-six
-degrees.
-
-I judged it best to stay where I was till daylight, especially as I saw
-some traces of dawn appearing in a quarter of the sky which I hence
-concluded to be the east. I awaited the coming day with great eagerness,
-and, I admit, with some anxiety, for it would be hard to say what
-reception I might meet with. This much was plain—the planet was not
-destitute of some forms of life, and I had escaped the detestable
-Yahoos.
-
-But, as the reader will soon learn, my conclusion was over-hasty. As the
-light gradually increased I began to make out at first the main
-features, and soon the minuter details of the landscape. The sloping
-ground on which I had landed formed the base of a high mountain. Dense
-forests concealed the summit; the lower part, on which I was sitting,
-was covered with soft short grass, and trees, most of them bearing some
-sort of fruit, were here and there scattered about. A few yards below me
-the steepness of the slope eased off into a gentle descent, and the
-mountain finally terminated on the shore of a deep bay of clear and
-still water. At the end of this bay lay the city which shone so brightly
-in the night; it was about five miles from my landing-place, and, as I
-afterwards learned, was called Lucetta. The opposite shore of the bay,
-which was nearly ten miles wide, was occupied by a lofty range of peaked
-mountains. The temperature was high, but by no means intolerable, and
-the air was perfectly still.
-
-I saw no traces of any habitation outside the city, and no signs of
-animal life, excepting birds, were anywhere visible, but of the birds
-there were many and lovely kinds. I was greatly struck by the appearance
-of the sky; this was completely covered with a canopy of white cloud,
-seemingly at an enormous elevation. I was very desirous to get a sight
-of the sun, and, if possible, to measure its apparent magnitude, which I
-knew must greatly exceed its appearance from the earth; but the
-thickness of the cloud was such that no trace of the disk was visible. I
-had hoped, by this means, to satisfy myself that I had really reached
-Hesperos, namely, by comparing the observed magnitude with that which I
-had computed, and noted on a leaf of my pocket-book before I left
-Thibet. So I waited another hour, but seeing no signs of movement among
-the clouds, and despairing of getting an observation, I got up and
-walked down the hill in the direction of the city.
-
-Presently the great steepness of the slope abated, and I soon arrived at
-a wide and smooth track which ran along the shore of the bay. The
-country was quite open; there were no walls, hedges, or any kind of
-fences—not even any of those notice-boards so familiar to the wanderer
-in civilized terrestrial regions, which address him by the name of
-Trespasser, and convey menaces. I turned into the road, in the direction
-of the city, and, after proceeding along it for about half a mile, I
-descried, at some distance, an approaching object, which, to my
-unspeakable horror, had all the look of a Yahoo.
-
-As we came nearer the suspicion became a certainty. The creature was
-walking very slowly, and seemed to be quite absorbed in contemplation of
-a small article which he held in his hand. He was a man of middle age,
-with an exceedingly intelligent cast of countenance, and his dress did
-not materially differ from the Eastern costume which had accompanied me
-from Thibet.
-
-So I could not at all account for the extreme intensity of his
-astonishment when, at last raising his eyes, he got the first sight of
-me as I walked towards him. He seemed completely paralyzed, gasped for
-breath, and for several moments was quite incapable of speech. Such
-utter stupefaction might have been manifested by the inhabitants of
-Lilliput and Brobdingnag when they first beheld Captain Gulliver, but in
-the present case there was no apparent cause for amazement. At length he
-recovered himself sufficiently to address a few words to me, none of
-which I could understand. I replied, but with the like want of success.
-I pointed to the sky, to intimate that I had come from another world,
-and then to the city, as a hint that I wished to go there. Both of these
-signs he evidently understood, and he turned back, and accompanied me in
-silence. I must do my companion, and indeed all the Venusians (or
-Hesperians) I have encountered, the justice of admitting that, though in
-Yahoo form, they possess none of the offensive peculiarities of the
-breed.
-
-We had not gone very far before we overtook a young girl of exceedingly
-prepossessing aspect, walking towards the city. She too, on seeing me,
-appeared to be struck with the same overwhelming and stupefying
-astonishment which had produced so great an effect on my first
-acquaintance. I could not understand it at all. There was nothing in the
-personal appearance of either the man or the girl which struck _me_ as
-extremely unusual. Why, then, should I be so extraordinarily wonderful
-in their eyes?
-
-When we came up with the girl the man stopped, and they talked in a very
-excited manner for some minutes. While they were so occupied it occurred
-to me that something very remarkable might have happened in the
-reintegration of my body on arrival at the surface of the planet. I
-might, for all I knew, be suffering from some grotesque distortion of
-features, or other bodily misfortune. But no, that was not the cause of
-their wonder, for, as the road ran close along the shore, I took the
-opportunity of surveying myself in the clear water, and the reflection
-showed, beyond all possibility of doubt, that there was nothing whatever
-astray with my personal appearance.
-
-Presently, hearing a slight noise behind me, I looked back, and saw a
-vehicle on its way to the city approaching us. It was running swiftly,
-although there were no horses attached, nor any visible motive power;
-the wheels ran on two steel rods which I had before noticed lying
-parallel to each other on the road. As soon as the vehicle reached the
-spot where we were standing it stopped at once, and the man and the girl
-making signs to me to get into it, I did so. In the vehicle were about a
-dozen people, of various adult ages, the youngest seemingly about twenty
-years old, the eldest about sixty. They were of both sexes, and, with
-one consent, they all, old and young, male and female alike, received me
-with the same intense, and, as it seemed to me, needless amazement as
-the first man and girl had shown.
-
-The vehicle resumed its course and ran on swiftly and with exceeding
-smoothness into the city. It was easy to see that I was the exclusive
-theme of the eager and excited discourse of the passengers. Their manner
-was very friendly, but their astonishment showed no signs of abating. A
-few minutes sufficed to bring us to the end of our journey. The car ran
-through a long and wide street, bordered on each side with rows of
-splendid trees. Through their foliage the houses were visible. Each
-house was separated from its neighbour by an interval of several yards;
-was but one story in height; and, so far as I was able to judge from a
-hasty glance in rapid passage, was very elaborately and tastefully
-ornamented. It was plain that land was abundant, and ground rents, if
-any, were trifling.
-
-We soon reached our destination—a large open space in the middle of the
-town. This great square was surrounded by stately public buildings, some
-of them being of considerable elevation. One of these was especially
-striking on account of its gorgeous magnificence. It had all the look of
-a vast cathedral, and the roll of deep-toned music, much resembling the
-tones of a powerful and curiously sweet organ, issuing from the open
-portals, served to heighten the illusion. Though still early morning,
-many people were about in the square, and, as soon as we alighted from
-the car, I saw the faces of all the bystanders assume the same look of
-bewildered astonishment which all who had yet seen me so needlessly put
-on.
-
-From all sides the people came running together; but there was no
-crowding or pressure; the multitude were most orderly, and seemed quite
-friendly in their demeanour; but it was plain that, for some mysterious
-reason, my arrival indicated a crisis in the history of the city. At
-last a young man, who appeared to be in a position of authority, mounted
-a low flight of steps which led up to the building before which the
-vehicle had stopped, and addressed a short speech to the assembled
-people. The crowd at once dispersed, and three persons came forward and
-took me in charge.
-
-Two of these were men, one of them elderly, the other of middle age; the
-third of these custodians, as I had to consider them, was a very
-beautiful girl, seemingly about twenty years old. The countenances of
-all three were characterized by marks of extreme intelligence; and each
-of them had a peculiar look which is common to all the Hesperians I have
-seen, and which I can no otherwise describe than as a look indicative of
-immense and profound knowledge. These three persons, as I afterwards
-learned, were appointed by the man in authority as a sort of commission
-to take charge of me, and endeavour to ascertain what I was, whence I
-came, and whither I was going. The real cause of the intensity of the
-wonder which I excited everywhere will be explained farther on.
-
-The elder man made signs to me to walk up the steps, and enter the large
-building beside us, which I did, the others following. The steps led up
-to a spacious hall, from which long corridors branched out in various
-directions. One of the men inquired by gesture-language if I wished for
-food. As I was by this time exceedingly hungry, I replied, in the same
-way, that I was quite ready for my breakfast. Whereupon they brought me
-to a room which opened into one of the corridors, where, on turning a
-handle in the wall, a sliding panel opened, and a table on rollers
-passed through. Various kinds of meats and drinks were on the table, and
-of these they invited me to partake. I made a hearty meal. I noticed, in
-particular, respecting some of the dishes, that they greatly resembled
-in taste various kinds of flesh-meat, very delicately cooked, but they
-were totally different in appearance from anything of the sort ever
-served up on earth.
-
-I observed also that my three keepers did everything in their power to
-induce me to give the names, in my language, of every object in sight.
-The girl had a sort of small memorandum book, in which, with a fine
-pencil, she constantly wrote, in what seemed a system of shorthand, the
-words and sentences I uttered; and she and the two men repeated them
-articulately several times. They gave me the idea that they were much
-more anxious to learn my language than to teach me theirs. In fact, I
-afterwards learned that this was part of the instructions they had
-received respecting me.
-
-As soon as I had finished my breakfast they took me into a large room,
-which opened into another corridor, and was hung round with all sorts of
-charts. Among these I saw, to my intense astonishment, a large circular
-map, about sixteen feet in diameter, on which, depicted with singular
-accuracy, were the well-known outlines of the continents and larger
-islands of the eastern hemisphere of the earth. The immense white masses
-at the poles, the blue colour of the southern and Indian oceans, the
-yellow tinge of the Great Sahara and Asiatic deserts were especially
-prominent objects. The process by which this wonderful map was made was
-afterwards fully explained to me. It was what they called a sun-picture
-taken by the help of an enormous telescope in one of the national
-mountain observatories, of which I learned much more afterwards.
-
-They showed me several other equally excellent charts of the earth,
-exhibiting different portions of her surface. All of these were taken
-when she was in opposition, and therefore were all on the same scale.
-The committee showed great delight when I intimated my acquaintance with
-the details of the charts; inasmuch as this was a sufficiently clear
-proof of the place from which I came. I pronounced, as distinctly as I
-could, the names of the continents, seas, and principal islands,
-indicating, at the same time, by pointing them out, the localities
-named. All of these words they repeated as before; and the girl took
-them down in her rapid shorthand.
-
-The extraordinary quickness with which these three Hesperians acquired
-the language of Holland would not be easily credited by an inhabitant of
-the earth. Still it is a fact that, by the simple process of constantly
-conversing with me, and recording every word I spoke to them, in little
-more than a week all the three could speak our language with great
-fluency; while I, who had a great facility for learning foreign tongues,
-had acquired only a few words and elementary sentences of the Hesperian
-speech. This training in our language was by no means confined to the
-three members of the committee. Each morning the results of the day’s
-conversation were faithfully reported in the Hesperian journals from the
-girl’s memoranda; and the whole population of the city engaged with
-heart and soul in the study of Hollandish—plainly with the intention of
-putting themselves as quickly as possible in the way of getting an
-explanation of my astounding appearance among them.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER III.
-
-  Concerning Physical Hesperography—Of the great Cloud-Screen, and its
-      effect on Terrestrial Astronomy—Of the Chronic Equatorial Tornado,
-      and of its extraordinary importance in the history of Hesperos—Of
-      the Giant Mountains; and of the Flora and Fauna.
-
-
-To understand aright the nature of my intercourse with the Hesperians, I
-must needs give a short description of the structure and principal
-natural features of the surface of their planet; and likewise some
-account of the origin of the rational inhabitants thereof, and of the
-main points wherein their conditions of life differ from our own. All
-this knowledge was obtained by me, after the establishment, as I have
-explained, of a means of communication, in the course of many dialogues,
-not only with the three whom I had instructed in the Hollandish tongue,
-but also with many others, who had, with nearly equal quickness and
-ease, picked it up. But I think the reader will find it more convenient
-if I present him, in a connected discourse, this strange history which
-came to my knowledge only by degrees and in a rather roundabout way.
-
-Our own astronomers have, long ago, computed the distance of Hesperos
-from the sun, her magnitude, density, time of rotation on her axis, and
-a few other particulars. Some of these computations are approximately
-right, but they have considerably over-estimated her distance from the
-sun, which is really not much over sixty-six millions of miles. And with
-respect to the physical geography, or more properly, Hesperography of
-the planet, they are, all of them, in absolute ignorance, and that for
-the best of possible reasons—no human being but myself has ever seen her
-surface. Improvements in the telescope will never enable the terrestrial
-astronomers to penetrate the permanent stratum of cloud which, at an
-average elevation of twenty miles, surrounds the entire planet like a
-screen. The visible disk of Hesperos is simply the outer surface of this
-cloud-screen, which reflects the solar rays very copiously. The
-Hesperian atmosphere is of immense density, for the average height at
-which mercury stands in a tube constructed after the method of Signor
-Torricelli is somewhat over fifty-nine inches. It is fortunate that,
-except in the equatorial region, storms are unknown, for the impact of a
-hurricane of air of such density would be fatal to most forms of life.
-
-This ponderous atmosphere supports the stratum of cloud just mentioned,
-which is sufficiently dense to act as a screen against the solar rays,
-and it thus renders the climate of the greater part of the planet by no
-means unpleasant. Though the supply of solar heat is nearly double of
-that received by the earth, I never, during my two years’ residence in
-Hesperos, experienced as much inconvenience from that source as I have
-frequently met with in our own tropical countries.
-
-The planet is divided into two regions, which in ancient times were
-supposed to be, and, in one respect, really were, mutually inaccessible.
-The division is made by an immense equatorial ocean which surrounds the
-entire globe. The extent of this ocean, measured from north to south, is
-nowhere less than four thousand miles. Each of the poles is the centre
-of a vast continent which extends on all sides till it meets the great
-central ocean. The margins of these continents are exceedingly irregular
-in shape, being broken by arms of the sea, which often run up the
-country for many hundreds of miles. Many islands, some of which are of
-considerable size, are scattered through the ocean, but none of these
-lie at a very great distance from the mainland. The entire surface is
-nearly equally divided between land and water, this distribution forming
-a marked contrast with the present state of the earth.
-
-By far the most striking of the physical phenomena on the planet is the
-frightful chronic hurricane which rages round the equator. To this I
-must ask the reader’s special attention, inasmuch as some of the most
-astounding events in the Hesperian history are only to be understood
-with reference to this extraordinary and hitherto unexplained tornado. I
-have already mentioned the exceeding density of the air, and also the
-fortunate exemption of the greater part of the planet from storms. But
-it seems that this latent energy of the atmosphere finds its vent in a
-zone about five hundred miles in breadth, of which the equator forms the
-central line. According to all accounts a permanent tornado, of such
-violence that one who is accustomed only to the storms which occur in
-the rarer atmosphere of the earth, is incapable of even imagining it,
-tears and rages round this zone for ever. Still less could anyone
-conceive the aspect of the ocean subjected to this unceasing and
-tremendous hurricane. Anyone who could realize in imagination the
-cataract of Niagara, broken loose from its American moorings, and
-wandering on the sea, might perhaps have some notion of one of the
-equatorial waves.
-
-This is the reason why I described the northern and southern Hesperian
-hemispheres as mutually inaccessible. No ship constructed by mortal
-hands could approach this pandemonium and live. We shall see, farther
-on, that, after the lapse of many ages, counting from the first
-appearance of rational life, the transit was effected in a wholly
-unexpected manner. This transit led to a most awful discovery, and with
-this discovery we shall see that the Modern History of Hesperos begins.
-
-Moreover, the differences as to heat and cold in the various climatal
-regions of Hesperos are not nearly so great as those which are
-experienced on the earth. This fact is partly to be explained by the
-considerable increase in the density of the permanent cloud stratum,
-which takes place as we approach the equatorial zone. This provides a
-more effective barrier against the solar rays in the districts where
-such a screen is most needed. For the purpose of residence the two polar
-regions are unquestionably far the most agreeable. Each of them abounds
-in beautiful lakes and magnificent mountain scenery. The Hesperian
-mountains are on a much larger scale than any which occur on the earth.
-In particular, starting from a point near the northern pole, there runs
-in a south-easterly direction a mighty chain which has several peaks not
-less than twenty English miles in height.
-
-Some of these peaks even pierce through the cloud-screen, and these have
-been made available for the construction of extensive astronomical
-observatories. There are similar, though not quite as lofty ranges in
-the southern hemisphere, and their summits have been utilised in the
-same way. It should be observed that, were it not for these mountains,
-the Hesperians would have been wholly cut off from all knowledge of the
-remainder of the universe, for none of the heavenly bodies are visible
-through the permanent screen. I need not say that very great precautions
-are taken at all the observatories to protect the astronomers and the
-instruments from the great heat of the sun.
-
-I have already mentioned that, with the terrible exception noticed
-above, storms are unknown in Hesperos. The country is everywhere well
-watered. There are no sandy deserts. Extensive evaporation takes place
-over the central ocean; rain clouds at a much lower altitude than the
-screen are constantly formed, and, being wafted by very gentle breezes
-over the land, discharge their contents in fertilizing rain. There are
-no thunderstorms or electrical phenomena of any kind; no hesperoquakes,
-no volcanoes, nor indeed any of those vast natural instruments of death
-with which our earth is so copiously supplied.
-
-The planet abounds, as might have been expected, in multiplied forms of
-vegetable life. There are many trees which closely resemble those of the
-earth; many also of very different types from any known here. The great
-preponderance in number of the fruit-bearing trees over the barren
-species is exceedingly noteworthy. As for the flowers, I have seen none
-on earth, tropical or non-tropical, which in any way approach the
-gorgeous splendour of the Hesperian colouring.
-
-Animal life, on the other hand, is scanty, and confined to a small
-number of seemingly insignificant species. The bird tribe forms the only
-exception. Of these the forms are numerous and lovely, and, as they are
-never molested by the inhabitants, they are singularly tame. There are
-no large or carnivorous mammals; and it is worth notice that in the
-small-sized and graminivorous types of this class—the only quadrupeds in
-Hesperos—the reproductive power is, in comparison with the earth tribes,
-exceedingly small. Insects and reptiles are wholly unknown; the numerous
-birds live entirely on the abundant fruits. I greatly appreciated the
-comfort of being able to sit and rest on the grass without being
-immediately covered with a disgusting swarm of stinging ants, and, when
-in the house, I soon learned to submit with resignation to the absence
-of the loathsome cockroach and the both loathsome and dangerous
-centipede and scorpion.
-
-
-
-
-                               CHAPTER IV
-
-  Of the Origin of Rational Life in Hesperos—Of the Cyclical Organic
-      Life—Of the Law of Evanescence by Mortal Lesion—The story of the
-      Hesperian Cain—Of the Law of Evanescence by adverse Metronomic
-      Balance—How a Court of Justice sentenced a culprit to Eternal
-      Punishment; and how the culprit escaped.
-
-
-  [WARNUNG BY ANTARES SKORPIOS.—_Should this book, by any mischance,
-      have fallen into the hands of any habitual consumer of the style
-      of literature known as ‘Shilling Shockers,’ or ‘Penny Dreadfuls,’
-      the Shocked or Terrified is earnestly exhorted to waste none of
-      his valuable time on the pages which follow. He may rely on it
-      that, although up to this point he may have been able to
-      comprehend the narrative, the remainder of the work is utterly
-      beyond his tether. I now proceed with my translation._]
-
-
-I shall now proceed to give an account of the nature and origin of
-rational life in Hesperos; but, before doing so, I must venture to
-address a word of advice and exhortation to the reader. Should he,
-unhappily, be one of those narrow-minded persons who exalt the normal
-phenomena of this little globe of earth into the unique standard and
-pattern of what must needs prevail throughout the entire universe, he
-had better close the book at once. But should he be of larger mind, and
-allow the possibility of more than he has dreamed of in his philosophy
-existing in heaven, he may perhaps find in the following sketch of the
-ancient history of Hesperos, communicated to me by those who were
-themselves the eye-witnesses of what they related, abundant matter both
-for profitable reflection and delectable entertainment.
-
-I may here add that, for the convenience of these large-minded readers,
-I have in all cases reduced the measures of time and distance from the
-Hesperian terms in which they were given to me, to those which are best
-known in Europe. Thus, when I speak of years, I mean our own period of
-365 days, and not the Hesperian of 224; and similarly I have expressed
-their measure of distance in English miles and feet; these being,
-perhaps, the best international standards.
-
-The whole surface of Hesperos contains a little over one hundred and
-eighty-two millions of square miles. Hence, as land and water occur in
-nearly equal proportions, we have as the total amount of land about
-ninety-one millions. This again, being nearly equally divided between
-the north and south hemispheres, gives forty-five and a-half millions
-for each. If we deduct from this the odd five and a-half millions, as an
-allowance for the immensely high mountain chains, and other districts
-not suited for supporting life, we shall have left forty millions of
-square miles in each hemisphere available for that purpose.
-
-Such being the physical condition of the planet, it happened that, in
-the year B.C. 18,270, just twenty thousand years ago, there suddenly
-appeared, uniformly dispersed over the forty million square miles of the
-northern hemisphere, exactly one hundred millions of rational creatures
-in the likeness of the human race. This is an ultimate fact which has
-hitherto baffled all inquiry. The manifestation took place suddenly and
-simultaneously; but whether it was the result of a new creation, or of a
-translation from other regions of space, is wrapped in impenetrable
-mystery. For twenty thousand years the Unknown Power which called them
-into being has preserved a rigid and unbroken silence. All that is known
-is that at the above epoch one hundred millions of highly intelligent
-creatures, equally divided between the two sexes, male and female,
-simultaneously awoke into conscious life.
-
-Though thus strictly contemporaneous in origin, they were nevertheless,
-so far as appearance indicated, of very different ages. They all seemed
-to be adults, but their aspects varied between that of an adult of
-twenty and one of sixty years of age.
-
-It is not my intention to describe the long and complicated process by
-which these detached creations, all alike ignorant of what had taken
-place, were, in the long course of ages, gradually amalgamated into
-communities and states. This would form the subject of a separate work
-on the ancient history of Hesperos, for which I possess copious
-materials. [I fear lost.] I must here confine myself to setting out more
-in detail the extraordinary differences, as to their circumstances and
-conditions of life, which exist between the rational inhabitants of
-Hesperos and those of the earth.
-
-The first fact which will strike the reader as a very extraordinary
-difference indeed is this—that, although there is the same distinction
-of sexes as is found on earth, and although there is just the same
-mutual attraction between them, there is no such thing as reproduction
-of the species. To counterbalance this strange fact, however, there are
-no such things, at least as the result of natural causes, as disease,
-decay, and death. When I said that the apparent ages of the new created
-or imported Hesperians varied between twenty and sixty years, I did not
-mean to intimate, and the reader is not to infer, that anything in the
-slightest degree resembling the horrible condition of the Struldbrugs of
-Luggnagg has place in Hesperos. Far from it; the dependence of the
-bodily organism on the age of the individual in that planet has no
-analogy with the progressive decay of the wretched Struldbrug; it
-follows a more complicated law.
-
-Every Hesperian, in fact, considered solely with reference to this
-bodily organism, leads a periodical life. The length of this period is
-not absolutely fixed, but it may be taken on an average at one hundred
-years, which may be conveniently divided into three sections, which may
-be respectively named as stationary, senescent, and juvenescent. For
-example, if we take a person who has just reached the apparent age of
-twenty years, his organic life will proceed somewhat as follow:—For the
-next twenty years he or she shows no outward and visible sign of change;
-but, at the end of this first or stationary period, traces of departing
-youth begin to manifest themselves. This process goes on for forty
-years, much in the same way as is the case with the human race on earth;
-and, at the end of this period, which we call senescent, the person has,
-in external form, all the look of a man or woman sixty years old.
-
-At or about this time a crisis in life takes place. This crisis is
-marked by the patient falling into a sort of stupor or trance, in which
-he usually continues for about seven days. On awakening from this trance
-he resumes his ordinary life, apparently under the same conditions as
-before. But the conditions are not the same. It soon becomes plain that
-the trance has wrought some mysterious change in his powers of bodily
-life. At the date of his awakening the last section of the periodical
-life, called the juvenescent, begins. Change both in external form and
-bodily activity proceeds, but it proceeds in a reversed direction, so
-that at the end of ten years the man of sixty, instead of being promoted
-to the rank of a septuagenarian, has all the appearance of a man of
-fifty; ten years more bring him to forty, and so on, till the limit of
-twenty is reached again, and the stationary stage sets in once more.
-
-Thus the cycle of one hundred years is completed—twenty years
-stationary, forty senescent, forty juvenescent. It should be remembered
-that these numbers only give averages; they vary in different cases
-within limits of a few years, nor are they, even for one and the same
-person, quite rigidly fixed. So the reader must not suppose that those
-who happen to be of the same apparent age at any one given date, will
-evermore preserve the same chronological relation to each other.
-
-It appears at once from the consideration of this cyclical law, that
-about one-half of the population of the planet are (apparently) over,
-and the other half under, the age of thirty-five years. Still it must
-never be forgotten that this cycle of events affects the corporeal
-existence exclusively. Mental power is in no way under its control.
-Although it is true that, during the senescent period, both the desire
-and the capacity for active bodily exertion alike decline, there is no
-abatement whatever in the intellectual energy, or the slightest failure
-in the faculty of memory.
-
-This, then, is the second essential difference between the Hesperian and
-the Terrestrial conditions of life. The first being the fact of
-Non-reproduction, the second may be called the Law of Cyclical Organism.
-A third still remains for our investigation.
-
-This third essential difference was known, during the period of the
-ancient history of Hesperos, as the Law of Evanescence. But, before
-proceeding to explain it, I must premise that, since the commencement of
-the modern history, it has been ascertained that the real significance
-of this law was entirely misconceived in the earlier period. Though the
-facts, so far as they had been then observed, were sufficiently
-accounted for by it, the observations had been very far from complete.
-
-The reader has, of course, already noticed, as an obvious consequence of
-the fact of non-reproduction, that all the now existing rational
-inhabitants of Hesperos are contemporaneous with the sudden
-manifestation of rational life on her surface. Whatever appearances
-might seem to indicate, not one of them is under twenty thousand years
-of age. Even the lovely girl who made notes of my conversation was not a
-day under it, though, at that time, I should have found it very hard to
-believe the fact. I have already mentioned that there is no such thing
-as death from disease or other natural and necessary cause. Still other
-causes may exist, and to these a portion of the original population may
-have fallen victims, so that the present Hesperians may be only the
-survivors of the original creation. These, too, some day or other may in
-like manner disappear, and rational life may thus be ultimately
-obliterated from the face of the planet. Such indeed was for ages the
-prevailing belief. How the belief was found to be based on an erroneous
-view of the actual facts will appear when we come to the history of the
-wonderful discovery which marks the commencement of the modern history.
-
-But, as for the belief itself in the likelihood of extinction of life in
-the planet, its origin may be easily explained. Soon after the sudden
-creation, or manifestation, of the Hesperians, the people in contiguous
-districts began to fraternise with each other. By degrees small
-communities were formed; rude languages were invented; private property
-began to be acquired; the advantages of co-operation and division of
-labour were dimly discerned. But, side by side with these marks of
-progress, many discouraging symptoms appeared. These, perhaps the
-inseparable companions of advancing civilization, were simply envy,
-hatred, jealousy, and all kinds of malice, too often resulting in
-energetic quarrelling, blows, and wounds.
-
-In one of these early contests one of the combatants, who had armed
-himself with an exceptionally heavy bludgeon, chanced to strike his
-antagonist an awful blow on the temple. The result was equally awful.
-Instead of falling to the ground, stunned by the force of the blow, as
-had been the usual result under similar circumstances in many previous
-encounters, the man who had received it simply vanished—instantaneously
-vanished. Not a trace of him was left, and the Hesperian Cain stood
-staring at the vacancy which his departed brother had filled, gasping
-with amazement and consternation at the work he had achieved.
-
-As years went on many similar cases occurred. Occasionally this
-evanescence took place as the result of an accident; the co-operation of
-a neighbour, though a common, was not an indispensable antecedent. For
-instance, if a man fell over a precipice several hundred feet high—and
-many such are to be found among the mountains—evanescence on reaching
-the foot of it was invariable.
-
-At length, by the process of comparing a vast number of instances in
-which this strange phenomenon had been observed, what was called the Law
-of Evanescence was established, namely, that a certain class of bodily
-injuries exist, which result in the instantaneous dissolution and
-disappearance of the recipient. And here I found my medical education of
-great service in enabling me to understand the nature of this law; for,
-from the accounts I got of the various causes of evanescence, it became
-quite clear to me that in _almost_ every case of the occurrence of the
-phenomenon, what would be called in human beings a mortal lesion is the
-invariable antecedent; that, in fact, the decomposition of the body,
-which on the earth takes place slowly, is instantaneously effected in
-Hesperos.
-
-Having referred to my medical education, I may call the reader’s
-attention, just in passing, to a difficulty which that education brought
-very forcibly before my mind. How could there be any science of anatomy
-in Hesperos? No corpses could be procured for dissection. An amputated
-arm or leg might be anatomised, but an examination of the structure of
-any of the vital organs is simply impossible. Just as, in mediæval
-times, medical students on the earth were obliged to have recourse to
-the dissection of the lower mammalia, in order to learn their business,
-so is it now with the Hesperians; and, in both cases, the results
-arrived at may be useful as the grounds for more or less ingenious
-hypotheses, but are quite insufficient as a foundation for any science
-worthy of the name.
-
-But the above account of evanescence as, in all cases, the result of
-mortal lesion, is not in absolute conformity with the facts of
-experience. Such lesions are unquestionably, in the vast majority of
-instances, the real causes of the phenomena. Still, occasionally, though
-comparatively rarely, cases occur which seem to be irreducible to any
-such rule, and these, for many ages, were regarded as inexplicable
-anomalies. However, the law which governs such mysterious cases of
-evanescence was at last found out, as I shall now proceed to explain.
-
-This important discovery was really the result of the invention of a
-most ingenious instrument, by means of which the degrees of pain and
-suffering on the one hand, and of joy and satisfaction on the other,
-endured or enjoyed by any given individual, during any assigned period,
-may be accurately measured, their aggregate amount computed, and the
-balance on either side struck. The machine is constructed somewhat on
-the principle of Mr. Fahrenheit’s thermometer, but the details of the
-construction, and of the mode of fixing the unit on which the
-calculations rest, were not communicated to me; indeed, the Hesperian
-who gave me a general account of it very frankly assured me—and I find
-no difficulty in believing him—that to understand its mode of action
-lies far beyond the range of my merely human faculties. However this may
-be, it is not easy to see how, without some such invention, the Second
-Law of Evanescence could have been discovered; but, by the application
-of this wonderful instrument to a great number of cases, the Law in
-question was at last established on a sufficiently wide inductive basis.
-
-This Second Law of Evanescence may be stated in a popular form as
-follows:—Evanescence takes place whenever the total quantity of
-suffering undergone by anyone, exceeds, by a certain fixed amount, the
-total quantity of happiness he has enjoyed. This fixed amount when
-estimated by the Hesperian joy-and-sorrow-metronome, above described, is
-exactly ten million units of its scale. When this negative balance is
-reached, the second law acts spontaneously, and the sufferer is thus
-released from all further misery.
-
-Under the existing conditions of life in Hesperos, it would be hard to
-over-estimate the importance of this law. For example, only for it there
-is nothing to prevent a court of justice from sentencing a prisoner to
-eternal punishment. And, as a matter of fact, one of the very earliest
-noticed cases of anomalous evanescence was the result of just such a
-sentence.
-
-The case occurred, about three thousand years after the creation. At
-that time, states, governments, and courts of justice had been fully
-established. In one of the larger islands not far from the northern
-continent, a somewhat turbulent citizen had, in a quarrel commenced by
-himself, ‘evanesced’ one of his neighbours, a man who happened to be
-exceedingly popular in the community where he dwelt. Public indignation
-was thereby excited to a terrible pitch. Cases of violent evanescence,
-or, as we should call them, murder, were frequent in the earlier
-periods; but, at the time of this outrage, they were beginning to be
-regarded with much disfavour. Owing to the absence of reproduction, it
-was quite plain that, unless this practice was discountenanced, the
-depopulation of the planet was inevitable; and, inasmuch as the question
-‘Is Life worth living?’ had not yet been answered in the negative, it
-was resolved that the whole force of society should be brought to bear
-against all violent evanishers.
-
-This state of public opinion, combined with the great amiability of the
-victim, induced the judges to pass on the criminal a sentence which they
-must have believed to amount to eternal punishment, namely, penal
-servitude for life. Life was, at that time, held to be interminable,
-except by violence; and, inasmuch as the convict in prison was secure
-from everything of the kind, the sentence could bear no other
-interpretation. However, at the end of about three years and a-half, the
-prisoner, without any apparent lawful reason, suddenly evanesced. This
-event greatly puzzled the community where it occurred; but after the
-discovery of the Second Law, there was no further mystery about it. The
-man’s absolute wretchedness at the forlorn prospect before him of
-everlasting life in jail, was quite sufficient, without his undergoing
-any other form of physical suffering, to work his deliverance. The
-negative balance of ten million units was reached in the three years and
-a half, whereupon he departed into invisibility under the natural
-operation of the law.
-
-It is obvious that the time which is required to make up the fixed
-number of metronomic units will depend very much on the degree of the
-intensity of the suffering undergone. Instances have occurred where a
-few days of exceedingly acute bodily torture have sufficed to raise the
-index to the required point. On the other hand, a man who is only
-suffering from chronic _ennui_ may endure for half a century; the
-balance against him rising by very slow degrees. It should also be
-remembered that when a man who has enjoyed a very happy life falls into
-adversity, he will certainly have much sorrow to endure, before he can
-hope for deliverance by this beneficent law; for the balance on the
-positive side (for joy), which will be high, must be reduced quite down
-to zero before the negative summation begins.
-
-From the above-stated facts the reader will have perceived that the
-conditions of rational life among the Hesperians differ from those
-experienced on the earth in several essential points. The most important
-of these are the three following:—The absence of any reproduction of the
-species; the exemption of the individual from death, so far as this is
-the result of natural and necessary causes; and the cyclical waxing and
-waning of the powers of the bodily organism. Evanescence, though its
-real nature was unknown, had plainly, for the ancient Hesperians, the
-same significance as death has for us; the only difference being that,
-with them, the dissolution of the body was an instantaneous act, instead
-of being effected, except when accelerated by fire, through the medium
-of a slow and loathsome process of decay.
-
-
-
-
-                               CHAPTER V.
-
-  Of the causes of the high civilization of Hesperos—Of the relations of
-      the sexes—Of private personal property—Of property in Land; and of
-      the methods of Eviction—Of the Jacks and Masters of all Trades.
-
-
-When we bear in mind these essential differences of Hesperian life, the
-rapid development of civilization which took place in the northern
-hemisphere after the sudden introduction of the rational creation will
-not appear surprising. So far as I have been able to form an estimate,
-from the information that has been very freely afforded me, the newly
-created Hesperians were, both intellectually and morally, much on a par
-with the average of human beings. But the conditions under which they
-were placed rendered their advance in civilization incomparably more
-rapid than anything which a similar species, circumstanced as we are on
-the earth, could hope to attain.
-
-Their total exemption from the chronic paralysis of the human race which
-is involved in the incessant passage of the latter through the stages of
-infancy and childhood, would, by itself, be enough to give the
-Hesperians such a start in the race as to render competition useless.
-With us the intelligent man of matured wisdom departs, carrying with him
-to the grave the greater part of his accumulated stores of knowledge,
-and all his skill; leaving his successor, the child, to recover them as
-well as he can. The Hesperian is crossed by no such check; his course is
-one uninterrupted advance. Thus it came to pass that, after the lapse of
-a few thousand years, the condition of the northern hemisphere was, as
-regards every form of advanced civilization, a very long way ahead of
-anything even dreamed of, much less realized on earth.
-
-It is quite necessary that I should here say a few words on the
-relations between the sexes in this strange planet. On this difficult
-subject I have taken abundance of notes from the information I received;
-information which, I am bound to say, was given me without the slightest
-reserve. [I suppress all details in these notes, as public opinion, very
-rightly, does not permit the discussion of such matters.] It is obvious
-of itself that the permanence of individual life renders the
-establishment of such a life-contract as marriage an impossibility.
-Accordingly, the Hesperian relation which most nearly corresponds with
-the matrimonial institution on earth usually lasts for one of the
-cyclical periods already described as one of the distinctive
-peculiarities of Hesperian life. This is, I say, the customary
-procedure; but the relation is terminable at any time, and at the will
-of either party concerned. It should, of course, be remembered that, as
-there are no children, the disastrous consequences which would be the
-inevitable result of such a state of things on earth do not take place.
-
-As for the institution of private property, the same permanence of
-individual life gives it quite a different form from that which it
-assumes under the conditions of death and succession. Personal property,
-indeed, in our strict sense of the term, can hardly be said to exist at
-all. There being no real family life—for the mere dwelling together of a
-childless man and woman can scarcely be called by such a name—a
-different social unit has been adopted. Three or four persons of each
-sex usually reside together, thus forming a household numbering six or
-eight, and ‘property’ has commonly reference to the household so
-constituted. The reader will see further on that this account of
-property is only correct for the _ancient_ history of the planet.
-
-With respect to property in land, very great troubles took place in the
-primitive times; and many ages elapsed before a satisfactory settlement
-was arrived at. Hesperos is, in comparison with the earth, very sparsely
-populated. One hundred millions of inhabitants to forty millions of
-square miles of land, give but an average of two and a-half to each
-square mile. Now, if we assume that the area of England is about 50,900
-square miles—an estimate which does not much differ from the fact—and
-that the population (A.D. 1730) is somewhere about seven millions, we
-have above one hundred and thirty-seven to each square mile. In an
-island of like dimensions in Hesperos—and one such really exists not far
-from the mainland—there are only 127,250 inhabitants.
-
-Hence it would seem that the land supply is greatly in excess of the
-needs of the population. But there are such extraordinary differences in
-the eligibility of particular sites as places for residence, that great
-competition invariably arose for those spots which are specially
-favoured by nature. These disputes were much aggravated by the
-conviction that the successful candidate had acquired a real, _bona
-fide_, and by no means fictitious perpetuity in the coveted abode. Thus
-these bitter feuds only too frequently resulted in the eviction of the
-occupier by one or other of the well-known processes by which
-evanescence was brought about; either that of mortal lesion, which was
-commonly effected by somebody lying in wait for the envied tenant in
-some lonely place; or by the slow method of the metronomic balance,
-carried out by imposing on the victim a sort of social ostracism,
-refusing to hold any intercourse with him, or indeed supply him with the
-necessaries of life.
-
-Matters at length proceeded to such extremities, that the governing
-bodies, in alarm at the depopulating process, passed a very stringent
-land law, limiting the tenure of any holding to the period of the Life
-Cycle, which, as we have already seen, averages one hundred years. At
-the end of that period the estate was disposed of by lot, but there was
-no rule to prevent the incoming tenant from coming to terms with the
-outgoer. It must be distinctly understood, however, that, as the extent
-in area of each holding was strictly limited by law, there was abundance
-of land for everyone, and the dispossessed occupiers were merely
-transferred to another part of the country.
-
-Permanence of individual life again is the cause of a marked difference
-in Hesperos from anything we experience on Earth, with respect to the
-tenures of the various occupations, trades, or professions, by the
-persons who exercise them. With us life is so short, and art so long,
-that when a man has once acquired the skill which is needful for his
-calling, he has but small opportunity, after having exercised it for a
-time, of ever learning another. But eternal tailoring or shoe-making, or
-even eternal writing of poetry, or painting, or playing on the fiddle,
-could not be thought of. Any attempt to carry out such a permanence of
-occupation would quickly terminate in the evanescence of the patient by
-the operation of the metronomic law.
-
-So here again the life cycle is usually adhered to; and on its
-completion the subject almost invariably adopts a new calling. Hence a
-strange state of affairs now in Hesperos—every man, and woman also, is
-not only Jack, but master, or mistress, of all trades. A friend told me
-that, during the last seven centuries of the ancient period, he had
-successively occupied the positions of miner, lamp-maker,
-cathedral-organist, confectioner, marine engineer, barrister-at-law, and
-maker of sun-pictures.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER VI.
-
-  Of the Universal Language—Of the Universal Empire and first measures
-      of the World-Parliament—Of the great progress of the Hesperians in
-      all Physical Science; and of their fruitless craving after the
-      Unknown God.
-
-
-It has been already mentioned that the land surface of Hesperos consists
-of an immense polar continent, bordered with a very considerable number
-of islands, which vary greatly both in magnitude and configuration. The
-island populations naturally lived for a long period in complete
-separation from each other, and the hesperographical peculiarities of
-the continent, such as extensive chains of impassable mountains,
-produced a similar effect on the mainland. Hence, just as on earth,
-different nationalities came into existence; and also, as on earth, each
-of these different nationalities had its own special language. But, as
-time went on, ships were invented, and communication between the islands
-and the continent became frequent. Commerce soon assumed extensive
-proportions; for in Hesperos, as in the earth, different regions abound
-in different products. Engineering operations also had been organized on
-a large scale, and these required much transportation of minerals and
-other materials of construction.
-
-In the sixth millenary period, counting from the rational creation, a
-most important improvement was originated by the Hesperians; an
-improvement which brought still more notable changes in its wake. This
-was the adoption of one universal language for the globe, in room of the
-many which had sprung up in the different states. By this time they had
-fully realized their positions as permanent denizens of the planet, and
-the advantages of a universal medium of communication were too obvious
-to need discussion. For this reason all the independent governments
-united in an international convention, and appointed a large committee
-of the most eminent philologists to consider the whole question.
-Pursuant to the report of this committee, a universal language was
-adopted; and the whole Hesperian world set to work, resolutely, at its
-study. In a very short time the polyglot system came to an end, and the
-language still spoken over the whole planet was an established fact.
-
-The adoption of this universal language prepared the way for the union
-of all the separate states into one vast empire. Thanks to the reckless
-use of the two methods of evanescence, the original population of one
-hundred millions had, in the lapse of ages, dwindled down to little more
-than eighty millions, and eighty millions were not considered to be too
-large a number for a single administration. It is true they were
-scattered over an exceedingly wide area; but, even at the time I speak
-of, an admirable system of communication had been organized. The
-sciences of mechanics and chemistry had made astonishing progress, and
-natural forces had been discovered and utilised for the purpose of
-locomotion. Of these, however, a fuller account will be given further
-on.
-
-Here it will suffice to mention that, in the year 5784, the whole
-northern hemisphere was finally united under one central administration,
-chosen by the suffrage of the whole Hesperian population, male and
-female alike. For it should be noticed that, as a consequence of the
-female sex being exempt from the cares of maternity, they take a much
-larger share in the pursuits of the other sex than would be at all
-desirable, or even possible, with us.
-
-Two highly important measures were at once agreed to by the
-world-parliament—first, the limitation of tenure of land to the cyclical
-period of life, which had been already adopted by most nationalities,
-was made a universal law; and, secondly, very stringent penalties were
-annexed to the crime of procuring the evanescence of any one. Whether it
-was effected directly or indirectly no difference was made in the
-penalty, which was evanescence of the perpetrator by the
-ten-million-unit process applied by a cat-o’-nine tails.
-
-Some years later another resolution was passed to the effect that it is
-inexpedient that any city should be allowed to exceed the limit of one
-hundred thousand inhabitants. This was issued rather as a recommendation
-than as a binding statute; but its expediency was so plain that it was
-almost universally adopted. The legislature were induced to pass it, in
-consequence of the congestion of the population at Lasondre, which had
-been unanimously selected as the metropolis and seat of government. The
-natural advantages of its situation, at the head of a vast indentation
-of the continent by a bay of the central ocean, its magnificent scenery
-and delightful climate, rendered it so desirable a residence, that, at
-the time when this resolution was passed, the population had already
-reached the incredible number of two millions; it was still on the
-increase, and the resulting inconveniences were so manifold and severe,
-that it was further resolved to emigrate the superabundant citizens
-gradually, by the help of the cyclical law.
-
-It must not be supposed that, during all the ages which had elapsed
-before the establishment of the world-parliament, speculation had not
-been rife among the Hesperians as to the nature and significance of the
-sudden and mysterious wakening into life which they had all
-simultaneously experienced. Quite the reverse was the fact. From the
-very earliest period, even from the time when small groups of them had
-invented the first rude forms of speech, the questions how they had been
-formed, how summoned into life, whence had they come, and whither were
-they going, had been started, discussed, solved, the solutions rejected,
-abandoned for a time as hopeless, again resumed, and as zealously as
-ever re-discussed, with the same results as before. All were agreed that
-Something had made them, and had made them for some purpose. But that
-the Something either could not or would not speak to them, or hold any
-sort of communication with them was a patent fact, and this caused
-unutterable sorrow to the Hesperian mind.
-
-In the earlier ages all persons were so much engrossed with the cares
-unavoidable for the supply of the necessaries of life; and, besides,
-were so deeply interested in investigating the physical laws of the
-world in which they were placed, that this increasing source of grief
-and anxiety did not produce as much effect upon them as it did in later
-times. But even then there was hardly a small town to be found which had
-not, among its public buildings, some sort of a temple, with the
-inscription ‘To the Unknown God,’ whom they ignorantly worshipped and
-longed after, but in vain.
-
-And, not only were they in this state of darkness respecting their Maker
-in consequence of the absence of any form of a direct revelation, but,
-being absolutely cut off from all knowledge of the remainder of the
-universe, by the physical structure of their atmosphere, they were also
-debarred from reaching Him through the medium of His works. The
-cloud-screen which shelters them from the fierce solar rays is
-impenetrable to vision, and thus, so far as any knowledge of the sun,
-and planets, and stars is concerned, they might as well have been a race
-of blind men. How it was that the canopy over their heads passed
-regularly in the course of about twenty-three hours and a-half through
-the two phases of brightness and darkness, was to them an inexplicable
-phenomenon. All sorts of conjectures, hypotheses, theories, were
-hazarded, but none were accepted. The phenomenon was not even universal.
-At one place, near the centre of the continent, and for a considerable
-distance around it, the alternation of light and darkness followed quite
-a different law. For, instead of the change taking place at intervals of
-a few hours, light shone steadily for more than a hundred and twenty
-days, and was followed by nearly as long a period of darkness. It was an
-inscrutable puzzle. Some said that on one or two occasions a round and
-shining body had been dimly seen for a few moments through the mist, and
-that this might possibly have something to do with the illumination. But
-the fact was discredited, and the alleged appearance ascribed either to
-an optical illusion or deliberate mendacity. The observers, accordingly,
-being invariably treated with either contempt or personal violence, the
-theory disappeared.
-
-Meanwhile great progress continued to be made in all departments of
-physical science. The various branches of mathematics were extensively
-and successfully studied, and the Hesperians became most expert
-geometers. The art of ship-building was soon carried to a high pitch of
-excellence, and various methods of propelling the vessels through the
-water were devised by the mechanical engineers. Some such artificial
-propulsion was almost indispensable, as the prevailing calms rendered
-the use of sails unavailable. One of the earliest motive powers
-extensively employed was the expansive force of the vapour of water,
-raised at a high temperature; and for many hundred years these curious
-ships were in actual use. I have seen several of them which are still
-kept in a vast marine museum at Lasondre. The vapour-engines propelled
-the ships either by means of great wheels furnished with boards which
-turned in the water, or by the action of one or more screws at the
-stern, which worked much as the tail of a fish does in shoving the
-animal along. But the use of the vapour of water as a motor was found to
-involve a terrible waste of power, and it has been long since abandoned.
-
-The progress of chemical science led to the discovery of an
-inexhaustible supply of force, which combines all the advantages of
-small cost, extreme portability, resistless strength, immunity from
-risk, and universal applicability. All this was obtained by the steady
-work and indomitable perseverance of three chemists who, contrary to
-usage, devoted themselves to this one branch of science for several
-consecutive cyclical periods of their career. Not being skilled in
-chemical learning, I was unable to comprehend the nature of their
-discovery; but I was told that it consisted in the application of
-certain laws of combination among various gases, each of which is easy
-to manufacture and store up.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER VII.
-
-  Of the first attempt to pass the Equatorial Tornado; and its tragical
-      issue—Of the attempt to pass the Cloud-Screen.
-
-
-These improvements in ship-building and ship-propelling were naturally
-followed by a great development of the science of navigation, to which
-the mathematical powers of the Hesperians formed an invaluable
-auxiliary. And thus all that was possible for them to ascertain
-concerning the physical universe was soon learned. The circumnavigation
-of the globe was easily effected, for the shape of the continent was
-such that it could be made without going out of sight of land. Other and
-more adventurous ships were sent on voyages of discovery in a southerly
-direction, and these made the discovery of the frightful tempest,
-mentioned before, which rages everlastingly in the equatorial zone. Not
-one of these ships succeeded in getting within two hundred miles of the
-equator itself. The crews reported unanimously that, even at that
-distance, the seas were simply terrific, and appeared to increase
-rapidly in violence towards the south. Some of them escaped from the
-vortex with extreme difficulty.
-
-Whereupon two ships were specially constructed for the purpose of
-carrying out this exploration. They were of extraordinary strength,
-fitted with immensely powerful gas-engines, and provided with a
-seemingly inexhaustible supply of the necessary chemical agents. A crew
-of one hundred volunteers embarked in each, and they started together on
-their perilous expedition. After eighty-five days one of these ships
-returned, but only twenty-five of her crew were with her; the rest had
-vanished either by mortal lesion or metronomic misery. The survivors
-reported the existence of an absolute pandemonium. The crew had
-succeeded in forcing the ship about fifty miles further into the zone of
-tempests than any of the former explorers. But further progress was
-hopeless. The man who before described to me one of the waves as a
-wandering cataract was among those who escaped, and his escape was a
-very narrow one indeed. He told me himself that when he got back into
-port his negative metronomic balance wanted but a few units of the point
-which would have terminated his career. And though they succeeded in
-forcing their way out of the tornado, this was only accomplished by
-putting on such power as threatened to tear the sides out of the ship.
-One of the Niagara-like waves fell on the sister-ship, and she was never
-seen again.
-
-After this tragedy an act was passed forbidding all attempts to enter
-the South Sea. Though many volunteers were ready to risk their lives,
-the legislature refused to sanction such peril.
-
-So now the Hesperian knowledge of the Universe, at the period I speak
-of, may be shortly summed up as follows:—They knew that their place of
-abode was a spherical cap. Some had at first maintained that it was a
-circular plain; but this theory was soon exploded. The uniformly
-circular horizon visible at sea, and on every large plain, and the
-results obtained from a general survey of the continent by
-triangulation, combined to discredit the planar and establish the
-spherical theory. They knew, also, from pendulum and other experiments,
-that, at a spot coincident with the centre of the presumed sphere on
-which they lived, an unknown centre of force existed to which all bodies
-on the surface tended. And beyond this knowledge there was a great
-blank. What lay outside the cloud-screen or beyond the equatorial ocean
-had not entered into the Hesperian mind to conceive.
-
-The attempt to pass the ocean, and the hopes of thereby being enabled to
-gain some further knowledge of the works of the Unknown Maker, having
-been completely baffled, the attention of the Hesperians was at once
-concentrated on their only remaining resource—the possibility of
-penetrating quite through the cloud-screen. Could this be passed, it was
-possible that something might be found beyond it which would throw some
-light on the dark problem of their origin. But difficulties, seemingly
-insuperable, lay directly in the way of any such attempt. I have already
-mentioned that a chain of gigantic mountains extends in a south-easterly
-direction for several thousands of miles from the vicinity of the North
-Pole, and that several of the peaks of this chain attain an altitude of
-not less than twenty miles. But, to the ancient Hesperians, the real
-height of these peaks was quite unknown. No man had ever seen their
-summits, for they were lost in the cloud-screen.
-
-It might certainly be supposed that here was an obvious way of entering,
-and possibly penetrating through the screen. But a very short
-description of the physical features of the mountains will suffice to
-dispel any such notions.
-
-All the engineers who had made a minute survey of the great mountain
-chain seem to have agreed that the particular peak which afforded the
-most favourable opportunity for ascent is one which is situated at about
-three thousand miles from the pole. It should be remembered that the
-level of the cloud-screen crosses these peaks at an altitude of about
-twenty miles, or, in round numbers, one hundred and five thousand feet.
-
-At the place referred to, the several stages of the ascent would be as
-follows:—First, about twenty thousand feet of easy slopes lead to a wide
-table-land, a resort much frequented by Hesperian households on account
-of its delightfully cool and bracing climate. Then follow ten thousand
-feet of steep ascent to the glacier region. This region, which is
-commonly regarded as the most formidable obstacle to success, extends,
-at an average inclination of forty-five degrees, to a vertical height of
-twenty thousand feet more. The strata of rainclouds, which are as
-different in formation from the cloud-screen as water is from smoke,
-never attain a greater elevation than ten miles; so here we have the
-limit above which neither rain nor snow can be deposited, and where,
-consequently, the glacier region ends.
-
-This brings us to an altitude of fifty thousand feet above the level of
-the ocean, and next comes the region of precipices which stretch up to
-the cloud-screen. This final ascent is divided into three gigantic
-steps; the first, and smallest of them, about ten thousand feet high,
-leads to a wide plateau; next comes the most awful of the three, not
-less than thirty thousand feet, terminating in a much narrower terrace,
-from which starts the last of the steps. This is not exactly a
-precipice, but a slope of seventy-five degrees; about fifteen thousand
-feet of this are visible; it then enters the cloud and is lost to view.
-
-The above description has, I trust, made it manifest that an attempt to
-reach the screen by the mountain route would prove a very arduous
-undertaking. Vast labour and cost would be essential, and here the
-advantages of the great world-parliament became exceedingly conspicuous.
-The enterprise was cheerfully voted to be a world-work. There was no
-fear that it would come to an untimely end through lack of any material
-supplies. A committee of the ablest engineers was appointed to examine
-and report on the most favourable spot for commencing operations. They
-were not long in coming to an unanimous decision, and the works began.
-
-It was resolved to drive a tunnel the whole way from the table-land
-under the glacier as far as its upper edge. This formidable work was
-found to be quite indispensable, in consequence of the incessant
-avalanches and ice-falls which, issuing from the glacier, fell down the
-steep slope to the table-land. Indeed, they were obliged to start the
-tunnel at a distance of fully five miles from the foot of the slope, as
-a security against the blocking of the entrance. Running nearly
-horizontally for these five miles, it then bent upwards at an angle of
-forty-five degrees, and, after a total rise of thirty thousand feet,
-issued at the top of the glacier, close to the foot of the first step in
-the series of precipices. The excavation of this tunnel, which was
-nearly thirteen miles long, was an exceedingly formidable task. But it
-was undertaken with such zeal and energy, and carried on with such
-perseverance, that the seemingly insuperable obstacles were at last
-overcome. Gangs of experienced miners, superintended by skilful
-engineers, relieved each other, night and day, at the work. Every
-material required was supplied in profusion. The new dynamical agent
-which had supplanted the vapour of water as a motor force, had been
-rendered available for instantaneous percussive action, after the manner
-of gunpowder, but with incomparably greater energy; and this was
-extensively utilised for the removal of the rocks. Still, as it was not
-possible to work at the tunnel except on one face, several years elapsed
-before the miners emerged into daylight at the top of the glacier.
-
-Here, before beginning the assault on the region of precipices, an
-immense depôt was established. The tunnel was laid down with double
-lines of the same sort of parallel steel rods as those which I had
-noticed on the road at Lucetta. On these ran a series of small trucks,
-driven by an endless chain which was moved by the gas engine
-beforementioned; and by means of these all the stores required were
-easily brought up.
-
-At the height of fifty thousand feet, which had now been reached, little
-or no difficulty in breathing was encountered. This was probably owing
-to the extreme density of the Hesperian atmosphere, which, as was
-noticed before, is so great that the mercury in the tube of Torricelli,
-at the sea level, stands at an average height of more than fifty-nine
-inches. Moreover, the slow rate at which it was observed to fall, during
-the ascent of the last few thousand feet, gave the engineers good hope
-that, even at the summit, a sufficiency of air to support life would be
-found.
-
-The ascent of all the three stages of the precipice region was effected
-by the process of cutting open galleries, inclined at an angle of thirty
-degrees, in the face of the vertical cliff. The region of ice and snow
-having been passed, tunnelling was no longer necessary. Four zigzags,
-each a mile long, sufficed to reach the first terrace, where another
-depôt was constructed; and a few years’ more labour, and about a dozen
-similar zigzags, accomplished the ascent of the tremendous middle
-precipice, thus bringing them within fifteen thousand feet of the
-cloud-screen.
-
-As the great work neared its completion, the anxiety and excitement, not
-only of those actually engaged in it, but of the entire population of
-the planet, rose to a scarcely conceivable intensity. It was now plain
-that the cloud level would be reached; but no light had as yet been
-thrown on the question whether the mountain top did or did not pass
-through the cloudy stratum. If it did not, all their labour of years had
-been merely thrown away, and they were left as before in absolute
-ignorance of the external universe. And the fact that the ascent which
-still remained to be scaled, was not absolutely vertical, but, sloping a
-little, even at its foot on the last terrace, appeared to diminish its
-inclination as it approached the cloud, gave reason to suspect that the
-actual summit of the mountain was not very far off. It may be added that
-the cloud itself, as they came nearer, presented an unpromising
-appearance of great density.
-
-So, the final depôt having been constructed, the work on the last series
-of galleries was begun and carried on with greatly increased vigour,
-till an altitude only a few yards lower than the under surface of the
-cloud was gained. At this place the angle of inclination of the cliff
-had eased off to sixty-three degrees, and it was thought advisable, in
-view of the unknown possibilities of the mountain inside this thick
-screen, to establish, by blasting away the rock, a level surface of
-sufficient extent to enable them to build yet another storehouse, before
-venturing to proceed with the sloping gallery.
-
-
-
-
-                             CHAPTER VIII.
-
-  Of the great courage of three engineers—How they passed the Screen and
-      saw the Host of Heaven—How they further discovered a Disk of
-      Unknown Fire—Of the reception of the news throughout the world—Of
-      the construction of a mountain Observatory; and of the rapid
-      growth of Astronomical knowledge.
-
-
-The levelling of the rock was necessarily a work which required a good
-deal of time; and, while it was proceeding, three of the engineers
-formed the daring project of scrambling up the cliff, into the cloud,
-and endeavouring to penetrate through it by themselves. All the three
-were in the stationary period of life, and, consequently, in the
-possession of full bodily strength and activity. The cliff was in most
-places rough enough to give good hold for both hands and feet. Still, to
-venture on a climb through a dense mist, on the face of a nearly
-precipitous and wholly unknown mountain, where a single slip would be
-certainly followed by immediate destruction, was regarded by their
-comrades as too hazardous to be thought of.
-
-But the three were not to be dissuaded—I ought, perhaps, to mention that
-it is to one of these daring men I am indebted for the account of the
-whole expedition. Their preparations were soon complete, for their
-equipment was very simple; each of them took about one pound weight of
-some sort of food in a highly concentrated form, and a flask containing
-a pint of water. Water, it may be observed, was valuable at this
-elevation, for every drop had to be carried up from the glacier region.
-Each man also carried a coil of about five hundred yards of fine, but
-very strong twine. This was intended to be used as a clue to guide them
-back to the camp. Fixing an end of one of these coils to the wall of
-their store, they started on their perilous journey at two o’clock in
-the afternoon. Without very much difficulty they scrambled up to the
-edge of the cloud, and there disappeared from the sight of their
-friends, most of whom believed that they had gone mad.
-
-As a proof of the great care and skill with which the works had been
-carried on, I may here remark that, up to this time, but one fatal
-accident had occurred. This was during the construction of the galleries
-on the face of the thirty-thousand-feet precipice. The top had been
-nearly reached, when a man, who was heaving a fragment of rock over the
-edge, lost his balance, and fell with the fragment. His horrified
-comrades watched his terrible fall, unbroken for about twenty thousand
-feet; there he touched a projecting spur of the rock, and evanesced
-instantly, mortal lesion having been made.
-
-As soon as the three adventurers had entered the cloud they had the
-satisfaction of finding that, at all events, one possible obstacle, an
-obstacle which might have proved fatal to the success of the whole
-undertaking, had no existence. It had been feared that the atmosphere of
-the cloud-screen might turn out to be unfit for the support of animal
-life. But they found no difficulty in breathing. The extreme tenuity of
-the air, of course, rendered active exertion very laborious and
-exhausting, and thus, though the rock was not unfavourable for climbing,
-their upward progress was exceedingly slow. They often encountered
-difficulties which were quite insuperable, and which compelled them,
-retracing their steps, and recoiling their clue, to seek another line of
-ascent.
-
-As they slowly attained a higher altitude, it became quite plain that
-the angle of inclination was steadily becoming less. Before long it
-reached fifty degrees, and this change of slope, though it eased their
-climb, caused great apprehension to the climbers, for it seemed to
-indicate an approach to the top, and certainly no signs of any abatement
-in the density of the mist had yet become visible. To reach the summit
-while still wrapped in the cloud would be the deathblow to all their
-hopes.
-
-This angle of fifty degrees continued unaltered for a considerable
-distance. At about six o’clock, after four hours’ hard work, they came
-to the end of their second coil of string. Night was evidently coming
-on; they sat down on a small ledge of rock, and after taking some
-refreshment, they fastened their last coil to the string already paid
-out, resolved to proceed till it also came to an end.
-
-A few hundred feet further on the slope suddenly grew much steeper, and
-this, requiring additional exertion in the very thin air, soon produced
-such exhaustion in two of the party, that they were obliged to stop
-again and rest.
-
-By this time it had become quite dark, and the third engineer, who was
-still in as vigorous a condition as when he started from the camp,
-imagined that he perceived overhead through the mist what seemed to be
-small twinkling lights. Immediately he resumed the ascent, and still
-holding the clue, climbed a few yards higher up the mountain. And then
-he stopped and held on to the steep rock with both his hands, while he
-looked at the great Host of Heaven shining in the black depths of space.
-The cloud terminated above as abruptly as it began below. He had reached
-the edge, and the vision came upon him suddenly.
-
-When he recovered his speech he called softly to his companions to
-follow up the clue, for the cloud was passed. They struggled up with
-difficulty, and then all three stood together in silent wonder at the
-spectacle before them. They had not the slightest conception of its
-meaning; what the lights were; whether connected or not with their own
-abode; what were their distances; were they living beings—for a falling
-star, which suddenly flashed across the sky, suggested this question.
-Seen through that exceeding thin air, the splendour of the stars and
-planets was greater than what we, who have only seen them through a much
-denser medium, are able to conceive. Conspicuous above them all in
-beauty and brightness was the earth itself, which, being then in
-opposition, was at its least distance from the observers. When in that
-position, the earth presents to the Hesperians a much more brilliant
-object than their planet does to us. For, though not receiving as great
-a supply of light from the sun as Hesperos does, this deficiency is far
-more than balanced by the fact that, when in opposition, the whole of
-the illuminated face of the earth is visible at Hesperos, while only an
-exceedingly thin crescent of Hesperos is visible at the earth.
-
-Notwithstanding the intense coldness of the air, they stood for a long
-time contemplating the wondrous illumination. At last they became
-conscious of a change in the scene. The small lights began to grow dim,
-while the light diffused around them increased. The upper surface of the
-sea of cloud which lay stretched out on all sides, a few feet below
-them, gradually manifested itself as a smooth greyish-coloured plain.
-Behind them, towards the east, the mountain still sloped steeply up;
-but, at no great height above their heads, the top was distinctly
-visible. They resolved to continue the ascent, having first fastened the
-end of their clue, which was now unnecessary, to a conspicuous
-projection of rock about a hundred feet above the upper cloud surface.
-
-The remainder of the climb, which was hardly a thousand feet more, was
-easily accomplished by the three engineers, now rested and reinvigorated
-by success. And, on reaching the summit, which proved to be a small and
-nearly level platform of rock, they were rewarded with another spectacle
-totally different in kind, but fully as astonishing as that which met
-their eyes when they emerged from the cloud.
-
-By this time every trace of the heavenly lights had vanished, and they
-beheld on all sides of them a perfectly uniform and level plain. At one
-point, towards the east of this plain, an object was visible which at
-once absorbed the entire attention of the three. A very small segment of
-a fiery circle bordered on the horizon, shedding a track of bright light
-over the cloudy sea, which lay about a thousand feet below them. As they
-gazed and gazed on the fiery segment, it soon became plain that the
-segment belonged to a burning circular disk which was rising out of the
-cloud. The segment quickly grew into a semicircle; a few minutes more,
-and the whole disk became visible, left the cloud, and mounted slowly in
-the sky. At the same time the vast plain took a snow-white colour of
-dazzling radiance, and the heat emitted from the disk became so intense
-that the three mountaineers retreated quickly into the shadow of the
-peak by descending a few steps on the western side. One thing had become
-quite clear to them, namely, the cause of the daily illumination of the
-cloud-screen. It was evidently the great disk of unknown fire, which was
-still mounting in the air and travelling towards the west.
-
-Obviously no delay was to be made in descending to the camp and
-communicating to their comrades the tidings of the complete success of
-the expedition. They were obliged to use great caution on the downward
-journey. All mountaineers are aware that the descent of a very steep
-slope, where a single slip would be fatal, is a much more ticklish
-process than its ascent, insomuch that some have ventured to affirm that
-few great ascents would be made if the descent came first. By two
-o’clock in the afternoon they had accomplished the descent of the open
-part of the mountain; they easily found the string fastened to the
-projecting rock, and, re-entering the cloud, and guided by the clue,
-they very slowly, but without accident, found their way back to the
-camp, which they reached about six o’clock in the evening.
-
-The reader will easily understand the joy which the safe return of the
-three engineers occasioned in the camp, and the intense interest with
-which their story of the marvels visible beyond the cloud was listened
-to. Their report was hastily committed to writing, sent down by the
-tramways, and circulated through the world with all speed. Operations
-were instantly resumed at the gallery, which had still to be driven
-through the cloud stratum. It was resolved to continue it right up to
-the top of the mountain, for the report of the engineers rendered it
-quite plain that an extensive observatory must be established there, and
-that a corps of the ablest mathematicians and best trained physical
-observers must take up their permanent abode in it, in order to
-investigate the nature and meaning of the myriad smaller lights and the
-great fiery disk.
-
-Meanwhile, daring the progress of the works, many of the artificers who
-were in the prime of life, repeated the ascent which had been so
-successfully accomplished by the three pioneers; with the guidance of
-the clue, this was now a comparatively easy undertaking. Before the
-lapse of three years the first Hesperian observatory had been actually
-built, and a body of twenty-five of the ablest scientific men entered
-upon the study of practical and theoretical astronomy in that elevated
-abode. As a protection against the violence of the unscreened solar
-rays, a cavern was excavated in which the observers could pass the
-daytime at their calculations, and, issuing forth at nightfall, they
-laboriously watched the stars.
-
-The speed with which these men found out the clue to the explanation of
-the complicated phenomena before them, would be quite incredible to
-anyone who did not bear in mind the remarkable conditions under which
-they worked. This was no case of a gang of stolid country bumpkins
-contemplating for the first time the starry heavens. Every one of the
-observers was an expert geometer, was perfectly familiar with all kinds
-of algebraical calculation, and had been trained for centuries in every
-type of physical observation and experiment. Before the discovery of the
-heavenly world telescopes had been invented; but, being adapted for use
-on the surface of the planet only, they were all of small size. The vast
-field for observation now disclosed, created a demand for a much more
-powerful class of instruments, and the stimulus thus given to opticians
-soon showed its effect in most important improvements in the manufacture
-of glass. Before many years were over, high class astronomical
-instruments were attainable, including those by which angles can be
-measured to an extraordinary degree of minuteness.
-
-Thus the great rapidity with which this able band of observers succeeded
-in reducing the chaos of the fields of heaven to an orderly cosmos may
-be explained. I need not attempt to recount the successive steps in
-their marvellous progress. A very few days after they began their
-systematic labour, one of them suggested the real rotation of the planet
-on her axis as the cause of the apparent diurnal movement of the
-celestial sphere. This conjecture was speedily verified by pendulum
-experiments at the pole. Then followed the discoveries of the
-distinction between stars and planets and satellites; the distances and
-magnitudes of the planets; the position of their own world among them,
-and the dependence of the whole solar system on the sun. In short, by
-the close of the ninth millenary period, the Hesperian astronomy was a
-long way in advance of anything even now known on earth.
-
-In the ancient history of Hesperos this discovery of the external world
-forms by far the most important epoch, and, for several centuries, the
-study of astronomy seems to have absorbed a great part of the energies
-of the inhabitants. Two other places were found on the mountain chains
-of the north, where, by going through the same kind of works as those
-detailed above—some of them involving even greater difficulties in their
-execution—peaks which rose above the cloud were reached, and
-observatories built upon them. It thus became possible to compare
-observations taken at different parts of the surface, and astronomical
-discoveries proceeded with still greater rapidity.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER IX.
-
-  Of the development of World-Weariness in Hesperos; and of the second
-      attempt to cross the Equatorial Tornado—How the Forlorn Hope
-      succeeded, and discovered a City of the Dead—How the terrible
-      mystery of Evanescence was explained; and how the crew set out on
-      their return.
-
-
-But, notwithstanding the signal success which had attended their
-labours, there can be no doubt that during the next thousand years a
-general feeling of gloom and despondence gradually settled down over the
-Hesperian race. That the brilliant discoveries of the astronomers had
-failed to throw the faintest glimmer of light on the question of
-questions—Who was their Maker?—was a fact which could not be disguised.
-An answer to this was as far off as ever—further off, indeed. They had
-learned the enormous extent of the universe, and, as a consequence, that
-the Hesperians, so far from exhausting its contents, were no more than
-insignificant specks in its unfathomed deeps. In the vast profusion of
-worlds they felt themselves lost. If their Maker had charge of that vast
-universe, he might well have forgotten them altogether. Why, then,
-should they not depart from life? The door of exit was always open. A
-fall down the nearest precipice was always easy, and the instantaneous
-dissolution of the body was an unfailing remedy for every ill.
-
-This feeling of discontent with life, or general world-weariness,
-reached a climax in the concluding years of this period; and its
-existence in the mind of a small band of practical engineers was
-certainly the main cause which led to the terrible discovery that placed
-an indelible line of distinction between the ancient and modern
-Hesperian histories.
-
-Although the northern hemisphere only was accessible for exploration, it
-was by this time perfectly well known that the planet is a sphere. Hence
-they considered it not at all improbable that, to the calms of the
-north, a similar condition in the south might correspond; and that the
-chronic hurricane which had hitherto barred the passage to the southern
-ocean might prove to be confined to a zone not exceeding a few hundred
-miles in width. Should this be the case, it might perhaps be passed, and
-a southern continent discovered. This would greatly develop astronomical
-science; nothing less than a hemisphere of unseen stars might be brought
-into vision. Moreover, a transit of Mercury across the face of the sun
-would take place in a few years; and, in order to utilise this, a place
-of observation in the southern hemisphere was essential.
-
-It occurred to one of these engineers that, though no ship floating on
-the surface of the ocean could possibly live in the equatorial tornado,
-it might be practicable to devise a submarine vessel which, by sinking
-to a very great depth below the surface, could traverse the four or five
-hundred miles of raging cataracts, and then, emerging from the depths,
-might find a smoother sea.
-
-It was plain, however, that whoever ventured on such service must be
-content to incur imminent risk of utter destruction. No one could
-venture to guess how far downwards the seemingly preternatural
-disturbance might reach; or what horrors fatal to every form of life
-might be met in those frightful abysses. So, except for that feeling of
-weariness of life which was fast growing through the world, it is not at
-all likely that a body of volunteers, sufficiently numerous, could have
-been found for a service of such exceeding peril. In one respect,
-indeed, but only in one, this new enterprise had not as terrible an
-aspect as that which had been undertaken by the earlier and unsuccessful
-voyagers to the south. These earlier voyagers had actually ventured on
-the Infinite, for they had no clue to the shape or extent of their
-world; but, thanks to the astronomers, it was now well known that the
-planet is, at all events, bounded in every direction.
-
-The engineer communicated his plan to some of his comrades, and, after
-trying a great many experiments in submarine navigation on a small
-scale, they succeeded in constructing a model boat, which promised well
-for success. Their next step was to collect a sufficient number of
-volunteers; they considered that fifty would suffice. Owing to the
-desponding feeling then prevalent, the fifty, a forlorn hope, were soon
-found. They then applied to the world-parliament for the funds necessary
-for building and fitting out the ship, which would be a very costly
-undertaking, in consequence of the enormous strength which would be
-requisite to resist the water pressure at the great depths to which they
-would be constrained to descend. But, in the interest of scientific
-discovery, the funds were readily supplied; the works were commenced
-without any delay; and, in about two years, the ship was complete. It
-was lavishly supplied with stores of food, and force, and every
-requisite that could be conceived; and the fifty embarked and started
-for the south; none of them expecting, or indeed much wishing, ever to
-return.
-
-All of them were excellent engineers, and practised astronomers; indeed
-the hope of extending the field of the latter science had certainly some
-influence in stirring them up to their expedition. They continued on the
-surface of the water till they approached the stormy region. Into this
-they penetrated, still keeping on the surface, till the violence of the
-waves became so great that it was no longer possible to steer the ship.
-They then stopped the propelling engines, and opening the valves which
-admitted water into the tanks, sank slowly into the deep. At the depth
-of five hundred feet they found the sea quite still, and they started
-the propellers again. But, a few miles farther on they had to go five
-hundred feet lower. As they approached the line of the equator itself
-they were obliged by degrees to go lower and lower, till at last an
-immersion of two thousand feet was reached; and, at this depth they
-forced their way for about two hundred miles.
-
-The ship behaved admirably. Notwithstanding a pressure exceeding a
-thousand pounds on the square inch, not a trace of a leak could be
-discovered. At last they thought they might venture to rise a little;
-so, by altering the inclination of the propellers they gradually
-ascended about a thousand feet without any unpleasant result. At this
-height, signs of water disturbance rendered it inexpedient to continue
-their upward progress till they had made another fifty miles of their
-voyage. They then ascended five hundred feet more; at that depth the
-water was rough, but practicable. Fifty miles further, they ventured to
-force the water out of the tanks, and rise to the surface. This they did
-very slowly and cautiously, and on emerging they found that the zone of
-tornadoes was passed. The sea was still exceedingly rough; but looking
-back towards the north, it was easy to see, from the much greater
-violence of the waves in that quarter, that they had left the equatorial
-hurricanes behind them.
-
-They were now in the southern hemisphere, and, as well as they could
-compute, about two hundred and fifty miles south of the equator. The
-total width of the belt of storms, at the place where they had crossed
-it, they estimated at five hundred miles. As they proceeded towards the
-south, the sea became smoother and smoother, till they reached a region
-of nearly perfect calm. They resolved to hold on their course, due
-south, till they either reached land or the South Pole itself.
-
-On the ninth day after their emergence they sighted land. The country
-was evidently mountainous; overhead, the cloudy screen continued
-unbroken, and seemingly at the same elevation as in the north. Soon the
-ship was near enough to the shore for the crew to be able to discern
-unmistakable signs of life; and, on rounding a headland, a city of
-moderate size came into view. The style of the buildings was in no way
-different from that which was familiar to them at home. As they cast
-anchor a few hundred yards from the shore, they could see that the pier
-was densely crowded with people, who had been evidently attracted by the
-strangely-shaped vessel.
-
-Presently one of the crew, taking up a spy-glass, leaned on the handrail
-and took a steady look at the people on the pier. He had not gazed for
-more than a few seconds when he suddenly turned as white as a sheet,
-staggered back a couple of steps, and, gasping for breath, handed the
-glass to the man beside him. The captain asked him what was the
-matter—‘It is a City of the Dead,’ he stammered, in a voice all but
-inarticulate with terror.
-
-A like expression of horror came over the second man’s face, as he also
-looked through the telescope. And no wonder at it. The people who were
-standing on the pier had lived with them in the north, and were believed
-to have vanished from life for ever. A feeling like that which arises on
-earth in the presence of a ghostly visitor came over the crew. They were
-plainly face to face with some terrible mystery, which was now to be
-cleared up.
-
-Meanwhile a boat with several rowers pushed off from the pier and came
-swiftly towards the ship. As she approached, several of the engineers
-recognized in the steerer the man who had perished on the awful
-precipice which leads up to the great observatory of the north. When the
-boat came within hail, this man shouted, ‘We have been expecting you for
-some time, and we congratulate you on your submarine passage.’ So it was
-plain that these mysterious people knew all about the expedition. They
-saw the consternation of the engineers, but evidently did not
-reciprocate their confusion. On the other hand, all seemed highly
-delighted at the arrival of their old friends. More boats came out to
-the ship, and the crew were speedily landed. The citizens received them
-with great kindness; took them hospitably into their houses, and, when
-the astonished guests had rested, and recovered a little from their
-state of utter stupefaction, the supposed ghosts communicated to them
-the history of their adventures in the southern hemisphere.
-
-The substance of what they learned was as follows:—The phenomenon of
-evanescence, hitherto supposed to be the final destruction of the
-subject in which it takes place, is only the first step in a much more
-complicated process. The evanescence itself consists in a sudden
-disintegration of the molecules which compose the body. But these
-disintegrated, and therefore invisible, molecules are really endowed
-with an affinity or attraction which tends to the south pole of the
-planet. Just as on earth, the magnetic needle turns into the magnetic
-meridian, so on Hesperos those organized molecules which enter into the
-structure of a rational animal, when freed by disintegration,
-instantaneously seek the South Pole, the transmission taking place with
-the exact velocity of light. On reaching the pole, reintegration is
-equally instantaneous; so that in Hesperos we may say that the death,
-decomposition, and resurrection of the body form three consecutive steps
-in one connected series of events, the whole of which is accomplished in
-a single instant.
-
-Evanescence, then, in the northern hemisphere, and indeed in the
-southern also, is nothing more nor less than instantaneous transference
-to the South Pole. The reintegrated body is, with one most important
-exception, an exact reproduction of the disintegrated original. The
-exception is this: any bodily organ which has suffered a lesion of any
-kind is restored in its primitive healthy condition. Had this not been
-the case, many a man would have been doomed to the shocking fate of
-languishing in a maimed and mutilated state for evermore. The two laws
-of evanescence which have been observed in the north are equally valid
-in the south; but it should be remembered that the transference is
-always to the _South_ Pole, no matter in which hemisphere evanescence
-occurs.
-
-Hence it is obvious that, before the arrival of the submarine boat, the
-conditions of population in the north and in the south respectively were
-directly contrasted. In the former there was a constantly diminishing
-number which could not be increased; in the latter a constantly
-increasing number which could not be diminished. But it was quite plain
-that, assuming the return voyage of the submarine ship to be
-practicable, equilibrium would soon be restored.
-
-Such were the main facts communicated that evening to the astonished
-engineers. They all retired to rest in their new quarters half petrified
-with amazement and horror. The gate of exit from life was shut and
-barred—or rather, none such had ever existed. What was supposed to have
-been one had no such real significance; and if there was one anywhere it
-had still to be found.
-
-To their question, How had the southerners become aware of their
-projected submarine voyage? their hosts replied that one of the
-northerners who had been evanesced by an accident while the ship was
-building had, on arrival at the pole, communicated the plan. Indeed, in
-this way, by the frequent arrivals from the north, the southerners were
-kept well posted up as to everything which took place at the other side
-of the equator, and had learned all the grand results of the new
-astronomy.
-
-The engineers resolved to lose no time in making the return voyage; and
-they offered to take with them, as passengers, any, to the number of
-fifty, who chose to revisit their former habitations; more than fifty
-they could not easily accommodate. The offer was gladly accepted. Among
-those who returned they brought the oldest inhabitant of the south, the
-victim of the Hesperian Cain, whose untimely extinction, just 9997 years
-before, had led to the discovery of the first law of evanescence. He was
-now, to all appearance, in the twenty-fifth year of his age. Also three
-of the crew of that ill-fated ship which perished in the abortive
-attempt to cross the surface of the equatorial sea accompanied them.
-
-
-
-
-                               CHAPTER X.
-
-  The oldest inhabitant of the South relates its history—How the awful
-      intelligence was received in the North.
-
-
-As the return voyage occupied several days, the engineers had a good
-opportunity for obtaining from the passengers much interesting
-information concerning the past history and present condition of the
-southern hemisphere. In both physical structure and configuration the
-northern and southern portions of the planet are very similar; a great
-polar continent, with many islands off the coast, being the leading
-feature common to both. The south pole itself is situated in the middle
-of a very wide and fertile valley, surrounded on all sides by gently
-sloping hills. The climate is delightful, especially in the spring and
-the autumn; and this attraction, combined with the fact that the pole,
-hitherto, had been the sole port of ingress to the hemisphere, caused
-its selection as the site of the southern metropolis.
-
-The oldest inhabitant proved invaluable as a historian. His account of
-the origin and gradual growth of the city was as follows:—‘When I found
-myself extended on the ground at the pole, I had no conception of what
-had happened, or even that I had been moved from one place to another. I
-remembered distinctly the fight in which I had been engaged, my own
-exasperation, and the furious gestures of my antagonist. But he had
-vanished altogether, and the place where I now found myself was quite
-different from the scene of the combat. I got up and looked around me.
-The country was similar to my former place of abode; the same abundance
-of fruit-trees; the same pure streams of water; but the hills and
-mountains were quite differently shaped and grouped together. I could
-see no signs of rational life; the silence was broken only by the sweet
-singing of the birds, of which, as before, there were many kinds.
-
-‘While I was still lost in astonishment at what had occurred, there
-suddenly appeared on the exact spot of ground where I had, a few minutes
-before, awakened into new life, another man extended on the grass. An
-instant before not a trace of him was visible. For a moment I imagined
-he must be my recent antagonist, and I instinctively prepared to renew
-the battle. But he turned out to be a man I had never seen before; his
-speech was unintelligible to me, as was mine to him. We separated; he
-walked off to seek his fortune elsewhere, while I remained in the
-neighbourhood of the strangely-haunted spot which is now known as the
-South Pole.
-
-‘Before long more arrivals took place in the same mysterious manner. I
-must necessarily omit details: it will suffice to say that before many
-years had expired a population amounting to several thousands surrounded
-the pole. As most of these men, and women also, arrived in consequence
-of mortal lesions received in fights, it turned out that they were, as a
-general rule, of rowdy and quarrelsome dispositions, and thus for many
-centuries the lovely country was little better than a pandemonium.
-
-‘But by degrees things began to improve. Among the importations there
-was always a respectable minority of orderly persons, whose evanescence
-had been brought about either by accident, or when honestly fighting in
-self-defence. Order has always a tendency to prevail over disorderly
-violence. The orderly party combined and formed a compact body on the
-side of regular government. A sort of vigilance committee was
-established to keep guard over the pole itself. The special function of
-this committee was to take charge of all fresh arrivals, to explain to
-them the actual state of affairs in the south, and to enlist them on the
-right side.
-
-‘Thus, at last, the anarchical period came to an end. After the
-establishment of the universal empire in the north, and the consequent
-cessation of international war, immigration to the South Pole diminished
-enormously. Such things as batches of several hundreds arriving in the
-course of a few minutes from a field of battle were no more heard of.
-The rowdies themselves showed signs of reformation; they were never
-intrinsically bad, and they are now as well conducted as any in the
-south.
-
-‘The comparatively few who still continued to drop in from the north
-proved of inestimable service. As you are aware, they taught us the
-universal language, and they have always kept us well informed in the
-history and discoveries of the larger world. Owing to the great
-congestion of population at the metropolis which naturally resulted from
-the conditions of immigration, it was found necessary, about two
-thousand years ago, to adopt very stringent measures for its abatement,
-and great numbers of the inhabitants were removed to other parts of the
-country. Since that time the northern limit of one hundred thousand has
-been rigidly observed.’
-
-Such was the main part of the information given to the crew of engineers
-as they pursued their northern course through the smooth waters of the
-southern sea. When the equatorial zone was reached they descended once
-more beneath the waves, and by the same process and with no more
-difficulty than before effected its passage. On the twenty-second day,
-after a total absence of fifty-three days, they arrived in safety at the
-port of Lasondre.
-
-By this time their return was expected in the northern metropolis, and
-the anxiety of the people had risen to very great intensity. As the ship
-was entering the harbour the whole population swarmed on the quays. The
-city was decked with every sign of rejoicing, and the sweet-toned peal
-of the great bells which hung in the towers of the vast world-cathedral,
-erected in honour of the Unknown, filled the air with their music. But
-when the engineers landed with their company who had returned from the
-dead, and when the knowledge of what had been found spread into the
-city, all was hushed in silence. Joy at the safety of the crew, and at
-the unexpected sight of their departed friends, was none the less; but
-awe was the predominant feeling. The certainty of everlasting life, and
-of the shutting for ever of the only door of exit, were not to be
-lightly received. The tremendous intelligence was immediately
-communicated to the world, and the Modern History of Hesperos began.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER XI.
-              HERE BEGINS THE MODERN HISTORY OF HESPEROS.
-
-  How the two hemispheres were amalgamated—Concerning the Sympathetic
-      Telegraph; and how the great astonishment of the Hesperians at the
-      first sight of the Doctor was fully explained.
-
-
-On the morning after the return of the ship the parliament met, and
-immediately passed a vote for the construction of a large fleet of
-submarine vessels, to be built on the pattern of the original whose
-voyage had proved so successful. It was evident that intercourse on a
-very large scale would take place between the two hemispheres. The
-southerly journey, as was now well known, might be effected in quite a
-different way; for an energetic blow on the head provided the intending
-traveller with a swift and gratuitous passage to the South Pole. But
-there were many objections to this mode of transit; and, at all events,
-the return journey was strictly confined to the submarine route.
-
-So the new fleet was at once put on the stocks, and all the Hesperian
-dockyards were provided with work in abundance for several years.
-Meanwhile the original ship was kept on hard duty. On each voyage, and
-in both directions, she was crowded with passengers, some eager to see
-the new discovered world, others longing to revisit the scenes of their
-former life. Presently, as one of the results of the discovery, there
-arose an important question in international law. Whether those persons,
-now residing in the southern hemisphere, and subjects of its government,
-but whose evanescence had taken place subsequently to the establishment
-of the universal empire of the north, were still bound by their northern
-allegiance, or, had the fact of evanescence discharged them of that
-allegiance, thus leaving them lawful citizens of the south.
-
-The question involved some nice points; but fortunately there never was
-any occasion to bring it to an issue. For, the advantages arising from
-the amalgamation of all the northern governments into one universal
-empire were so manifest, and were so thoroughly appreciated even in the
-south, that the union of the two hemispheres in one universal planet
-empire very speedily took place. In fact it took place immediately after
-the important preliminary question was settled, In which hemisphere
-should the seat of the central government be fixed? Many circumstances
-seemed to suggest that it should be in the south, and at the pole.
-
-The explanation of the real significance of evanescence which ultimately
-revolutionized Hesperian life, was not the only piece of astounding
-intelligence imported into Lasondre by the submarine ship, on her first
-return voyage. Even in the midst of the general stupefaction occasioned
-by the return of the dead, the announcement of another extraordinary
-discovery excited the attention of the citizens. This was no less than a
-method whereby instantaneous communication might take place between two
-persons no matter how widely separated they might be on the surface of
-the planet.
-
-The discovery was made in this way. About one thousand years earlier, a
-man who was an earnest student of chemical science, was engaged in
-trying some experiments at Lucetta. These experiments were of a highly
-dangerous character; and one day, notwithstanding all precautions, a
-terrific explosion took place. So violent was it, and so minute were the
-fragments to which the experimentalist’s body was thereby reduced, that
-there was scarcely need for the first law of evanescence to operate in
-removing the remains from the land of the living. However, of course, it
-_did_ operate, and the chemist was duly reintegrated at the South Pole.
-He was, as usual, received by the vigilance committee, who explained to
-him, as they were in duty bound to do, the circumstances of his new
-life.
-
-The chemist, nothing daunted, proposed continuing his experiments; and
-the southern authorities, hearing the nature of them, and suspecting
-that a considerable series of sudden disintegrations and reintegrations
-of his body were likely to result, kindly assigned him a laboratory
-quite close to the pole—a fact which materially facilitated the
-memorable discovery which soon rewarded his labours.
-
-At a distance of a few miles to the east there is a hill which is mainly
-composed of a singular-looking mineral which has not, as yet, been found
-anywhere else in the planet. This mineral occurs at a very small depth
-below the surface, in separate masses, none of them exceeding ten pounds
-in weight, is of a bright green colour, and possesses the remarkable
-property of very easily splitting into exceedingly fine rods, no thicker
-than an ordinary needle.
-
-Desiring to make an analysis of this mineral, which the southerners
-called molygdon, the chemist procured a great quantity of these rods,
-cut them into lengths of a few inches, and tied them up tightly in
-bundles which he left for some days on a shelf in his laboratory till he
-was ready to examine them. When he was at leisure, he took one of these
-bundles, untied it, and threw the little rods into a flat vessel full of
-water, in which they floated, their specific gravity being small. To his
-great surprise the rods speedily assumed positions parallel to each
-other. He twisted one of them a little out of its direction, whereupon
-all the others turned through the same angle, so that the parallelism
-remained.
-
-At last, after a long and careful series of experiments he succeeded in
-establishing the following momentous law:—Two needles of molygdon which
-have been kept in close contact for not less than thirty-six hours at
-any spot not exceeding three hundred yards’ distance from the South
-Pole, possess the property of always remaining parallel to each other,
-whenever they are freely suspended in parallel planes, no matter how
-they are situated with respect to each other on the surface of the
-planet.
-
-This discovery afforded an easy mode of immediate communication between
-any two places in the southern hemisphere. All that was needful was to
-suspend two needles, rendered sympathetic by the above process, on
-pivots in the centres of two circular cards. A code of signals was
-easily devised, sufficient for ordinary purposes; and, by placing the
-letters of the alphabet round the edges of the cards, verbal
-conversation could be carried on.
-
-Soon after the discovery of this important law of nature, the southern
-parliament resolved to utilise it on a vast scale by founding an
-institution which would enable any two persons, even without being in
-possession of two directly sympathizing needles, to communicate with
-each other. It was estimated that the population of the south was not
-much under twenty-five millions. Accordingly, twenty-five million pairs
-of these sympathetic needles were manufactured, and each needle was
-mounted in a suitable circular box. This was done at the national
-expense; the intention being that one box should be given to each
-inhabitant of the south, the corresponding box being deposited in a
-building to be erected in the metropolis for the special purpose of the
-safe custody of the duplicates. As each box was a small cylinder, not
-exceeding three inches in diameter and one inch in height, no very large
-space was required for their accommodation. These duplicates were all
-arranged in order and numbered; the corresponding number being stamped
-on each sympathetic box.
-
-The process of conversation thus became very simple. For example, No.
-23,482,657 wishes to say a few words to No. 10,334, who is somewhere,
-but where he knows not, in the southern hemisphere. He sends his message
-to the central depôt. The stirring of the needle there rings a small
-bell, and displays a white mark on the front of the box. The clerk on
-duty takes it down, reads the message; then taking box No. 10,334, he
-repeats it to the required correspondent. Of course, any two particular
-friends who may have occasion for frequent conversation can have, in
-addition, two special needles with which they can communicate directly.
-
-All the passengers in the submarine ship were provided with these boxes,
-and, on their arrival at Lasondre, the question, whether the sympathetic
-influence extended to the northern hemisphere, was at once decided in
-the affirmative. Communication with the South Pole was just as easy from
-the north as from the south side of the equator.
-
-The South Pole being thus the most convenient centre for communication
-with the entire surface of the planet, had evidently strong claims for
-selection as the site of the universal metropolis. And before two years,
-dating from the return of the ship, were over, the whole planet was
-united in one vast empire, and the seat of government fixed at
-Australis, as we may style the city of the South Pole.
-
-The united government at once extended to the whole world the signalling
-system which had been so successfully carried out in the south; this, of
-course, involved an enormous addition to the depôt in Australis. And
-now, for the first time, the exact number of the primeval creation of
-the rational inhabitants was definitely ascertained. It was found that,
-at the era of the ship, there were in the northern hemisphere 70,589,347
-persons, and in the southern 29,410,653; thus the total population,
-which had never been increased, nor, as they had just learned,
-diminished, was, as before stated, exactly one hundred millions, and
-these were equally divided between the male and female sexes.
-
-Several years elapsed after the return of the ship before the stupendous
-change which had been wrought in the condition of the Hesperians, by the
-knowledge they had acquired of the indestructibility of life, began to
-produce the effects which afterwards became conspicuous. They were
-essentially a travel-loving race, and the great stimulus given to this
-propensity by the discovery of a new hemisphere seems for a time to have
-absorbed a good deal of their energies. The epoch, moreover, was
-immediately marked by the complete cessation of voluntary evanescence—in
-other words, of suicide, which, under the influence of the widely-spread
-world-weariness, had become only too common during the last age. When it
-was clearly understood that evanescence only meant change of place, the
-ignoble custom came to an end.
-
-It is well worth notice that, at the era of the union, the southern
-empire, though numerically far inferior to the northern, had reached a
-very much higher stage of both moral and political development. This
-superiority is easily explained. For thousands of years the southerners
-had been acquainted with the true conditions of life; that is to say,
-they had known that each individual is an indelible unit, in no way to
-be obliterated; and, therefore, that it is expedient for society to make
-the best of him. This same knowledge also reacted on the individual,
-however badly disposed he might have been by nature. He knew perfectly
-well that he could no more get rid of the society than the society could
-get rid of him; that, in fact, society was by far the stronger of the
-two, and, for this reason, it was plainly his interest to conduct
-himself at least in an inoffensive manner. It was invariably found that
-such a course of behaviour, steadily maintained for a lengthened period,
-reacted so strongly on even a malignant character, that, in a century or
-two, the subject became a worthy member of society.
-
-In the northern empire, on the other hand, as it was believed, and
-indeed with truth, that an undesirable and troublesome neighbour could
-at any time be suppressed, either by the gallows or some equivalent
-method, criminal legislation seems to have rather aimed at the
-extirpation than the reformation of the offender. But after the era of
-the ship, and subsequent union of the whole planet, all this was very
-speedily changed.
-
-Through the entire period of ten thousand years which, at the time of my
-arrival, had elapsed since the beginning of the modern history, no
-revolutionizing discovery had taken place. But, slowly and silently, a
-change took place in the characters of the Hesperians, which ultimately
-led to the complete remodelling of the greater part of their social
-institutions. Evanescence, except as the result of accident, wholly
-disappeared, for the age of violence was passed, capital punishment was
-an impossibility, and suicide a fruitless ebullition of temper. The
-enforced toleration of everyone by everyone else, worked, in the course
-of ages, as its inevitable result, a greatly increased kindliness of
-disposition and demeanour; and this was still further helped when
-progress of time, combined with the absolute fixity of the population,
-brought about the strange state of things, that each individual was
-personally acquainted with every other member of the Hesperian
-multitude. The number of his acquaintances was 99,999,999.
-
-And now we have the explanation of the great intensity of the
-astonishment which my sudden appearance in Lucetta excited in that town.
-Though not differing very much either in person or dress from many of
-themselves, yet the mere fact of my being a stranger to them was
-sufficient evidence that I was either a new creation on the planet, or
-had come from another world. In either case my arrival gave them hope
-that some light was about to be thrown on the great question which had
-vexed them all so long—Who was the Maker of the Universe?
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER XII.
-
-  Of the great social changes which resulted from the discovery of the
-      Indestructibility of Life.
-
-
-When this period of the acquaintance of everyone with everyone else had
-been reached, very little time intervened before a completely
-socialistic system was established all over the world. In fact it soon
-became obvious to all that private property had now become a clumsy
-incumbrance. The substitution of socialism was greatly facilitated by
-the extreme ease with which all the necessaries, and most of the
-luxuries, of life were procurable. This was partly due to the favourable
-climatic and other conditions of the planet, and partly to the
-extraordinary progress which had been made in the physical sciences in
-general, and in chemistry in particular. The universal abundance of
-vegetable life has been already noticed, and also the absence of all
-noxious and destructive types of the animal kingdom. Food, in the shape
-of esculent fruits, grew everywhere and in superfluous abundance; and,
-for all who tired of these, a perfect equivalent for the flesh of
-animals was readily available.
-
-Hesperian chemists had, long before this, completely solved the problem,
-which still baffles their terrestrial brethren, of the artificial
-formation of organic compounds from their ultimate elements. For
-instance, the seeming roast-beef with which I was regaled on my first
-morning in Lucetta, had just before been manufactured from some carbon,
-azote, and water, with a very small admixture of fluorine and potassium,
-without interfering with and inconveniencing any animal whatever. All
-the purveyors of provisions were good chemists. It is true that, some
-thousands of years earlier, the Hesperians were in the habit of using
-animal food, but the practice has been for ages abandoned, and is now
-regarded with abhorrence. Milk and butter and eggs are also manufactured
-with equal ease, and of singular excellence, out of similar materials.
-
-So much for the supply of food. As for their clothing, it is exceedingly
-simple, and is made exclusively from vegetable products. It is worn,
-indeed, merely as a protection from heat or cold; for the notion of
-there being anything indecorous in appearing in a state of nudity has no
-existence in the Hesperian mind. Thus, the two great leading wants being
-easily supplied, the population being all personally known to each
-other, and a due consideration for the wishes of their neighbours being
-universally recognized as a ground of moral obligation—engrained as this
-had been into the disposition of each through ages of exercise—the
-establishment of a perfect socialistic system was easily accomplished.
-
-The state of society which, at the time of my visit, prevailed over the
-whole planet, was one which could not have existed under less favourable
-conditions of life. It was not based on the chimerical theory that
-everybody is supposed to sacrifice himself for everybody else; and thus
-unite in each person the incongruous characters of a greedy baby and a
-self-denying saint—selfishly and unscrupulously taking from others the
-fruits of their labour, while unselfishly yielding up whatever he has
-earned by his own hard work. Far from it: the Hesperian system was
-founded on the fair and rational doctrine of give and take, honestly
-carried out. No one was afflicted with an inscrutable desire of
-thrusting a ‘happiness’ on his neighbour which he, for himself,
-repudiated with scorn. The gifts of nature were so very liberal that a
-small amount of daily labour on the part of each person sufficed to
-discharge his debt to the society; and this amount was, by everyone,
-regarded as a rigorous debt of honour, never to be shirked or evaded in
-any way.
-
-In the appointment of this prescribed quantity, it was a recognized
-maxim in practice that, whenever it was possible, the inclination of the
-labourer should be consulted. Special commissioners entrusted with this
-task were from time to time appointed in each town and district. The
-work proceeded with great smoothness. Everyone was anxious to do his
-share honestly. There were none of those idle scamps whose only object
-is to loaf around in idleness at the expense of their neighbours, and
-whose existence elsewhere renders every form of socialism an
-impossibility, except under a system of espionage so rigorous as to
-render life an intolerable burden. Everyone, by this time, being quite
-competent for the work of every skilled trade or calling, exchanges of
-allotted tasks were easily effected. The more irksome the labour, the
-shorter was the time required from the labourer. Sometimes it would
-happen that a man or woman would prefer, instead of working for a short
-time each day, to execute a long task by continuous labour, so as to
-have leisure afterwards for some special pursuit; this also was a matter
-easily arranged.
-
-This organization of labour was not nearly so complicated a business as
-such a task would be if attempted on the earth, even if we were to
-assume that the average terrestrial character was as well-conditioned as
-that of the Hesperians. For it is plain that, under the Hesperian
-conditions of life, the number of separate callings and professions is
-comparatively small. A world where there are no children has no need for
-the vast machinery of education; the great army of schoolmasters,
-tutors, and professors is non-existent. The absence of death leaves no
-place for the undertaker and his ghastly satellites. There are no
-clergy, for there is no known God.
-
-Medical science is, as has been already noticed, in a very strange
-condition, or rather is non-existent. Dissection of the vital parts of
-the body being impossible, the physician is indebted to the analogy of
-the lower animals for his hypotheses as to the structure of the rational
-being. Fortunately, diseases are unknown.
-
-As for surgery, a singular revolution in its practice was an immediate
-result of the discovery of the real nature of evanescence. In the
-earlier ages, before the weariness of life had set in to any great
-extent, the occurrence of any grave bodily lesion, which, though not
-fatal, was sufficient to involve a serious mutilation, or the entire
-loss of organs of perception, was a calamity so great that the
-inhabitants of the earth, confined as they are to one short bodily life,
-would find it hard, even in imagination, to realize its severity. In
-spite of all precautions such accidents sometimes took place, and the
-unhappy sufferers, reluctant to surrender their whole existence, would
-often consent to undergo operations which had the effect of leaving them
-to abide for ever as helpless, mutilated trunks. So the Hesperian
-surgeons were skilful amputators of limbs, and they could, and often
-did, perform other serious operations for the purpose of preserving the
-patient from evanescence. Still their success was but small, for the
-wretched condition of the sufferer usually led to the extinction of his
-life under the metronomic law of Adverse Balance—evanescence, in fact,
-was only postponed.
-
-But, as the world-weariness gained ground, few were found who were
-willing to purchase life at so heavy a price. And finally, when the true
-nature of evanescence was understood, all operations except those of the
-most trifling character ceased at once. Whenever a serious accident
-takes place, an anæsthetic sufficiently powerful to destroy life is
-administered, and the patient awakes immediately, with his organism
-restored, at the South Pole.
-
-The complete establishment of the communistic system also contributed to
-the simplicity of the social arrangements in the planet; inasmuch as all
-the multifarious professions which are incidental to the tenure of
-private property collapsed at once. There was no further need for
-lawyers, attorneys, bankers, stockbrokers—still less for
-stock-jobbers—and the great multitude formerly required to serve as
-policemen, coast-guards, and excisemen, were now at liberty for more
-directly useful occupations.
-
-
-
-
-                             CHAPTER XIII.
-
-  How the Doctor delivered a course of lectures on the History of the
-      Earth and its Inhabitants—Of the effects of his ghastly
-      description—Of the attempt of two Hesperians to reach the Earth;
-      and of its unsatisfactory result.
-
-
-[At this point the doctor’s notes become very scanty: still the
-following facts may be readily gleaned from his memoranda. Hesperos was
-the abode of one hundred millions of rational and highly-cultured
-beings, incapable alike of increase or diminution in number, constrained
-to exist on the surface of the planet, and firmly believing in the
-existence of an intelligent Creator who, although in all his works which
-were accessible to them, he manifested unmistakable marks of
-benevolence, refused to speak to or hold any communication with his
-intelligent creation. And yet, for such communication they craved with
-all their soul and with all their strength. The vast temples erected in
-their cities to the Unknown God, and the solemn services held therein,
-as well as their intense devotion to all branches of natural science,
-alike indicated their longing to penetrate the mystery of the material
-world, and reach the spirit which they believed to lie behind.
-
-The hopes which had been excited so many years earlier by the discovery
-of the immensity of the Universe when the cloud-screen was passed, had
-ended in bitter disappointment. Vastness of power on the part of the
-Maker had indeed been strongly illustrated; but, most certainly, no
-light had been thrown on any of his other attributes. So it is easy to
-understand the intensity of interest with which the news of an arrival
-from another world was received. That their visitor came from the earth
-was at once ascertained, as we have already seen, by his familiarity
-with the earth charts in the museum at Lucetta.
-
-When this wonderful arrival was telegraphed at the metropolis, the
-world-parliament instantly met. It was resolved that a committee should
-be appointed at Lucetta, whose business should be, first, to learn the
-stranger’s language, and then to communicate to him a general
-description of Venus, and the leading facts in the history of her
-inhabitants, so as to enable him to bring before them the main points of
-agreement and difference in the conditions of life on the two planets.
-That these instructions were well carried out by the committee is
-manifest from the notes which have now been brought to light and
-translated into the English tongue.
-
-As soon as this preliminary process was completed, the doctor was
-requested in his turn to give the Hesperians an account of the affairs
-of the earth; of its physical condition; of its irrational animals,
-supposing such to exist; of its rational animals, one of which they had
-seen; and lastly, to answer the great question of questions—Whether the
-terrestrial rational beings had any direct knowledge of the Maker of the
-whole.
-
-On all of these points he delivered lectures in the cathedral of
-Lucetta, to a crowded audience of more than five thousand people. From
-the short notes in his pocket-book it is easy to gather his manner of
-treating the above subjects. Of course the reader will bear in mind the
-great intensity of his misanthropy.
-
-He began by describing the physical condition of the earth’s surface,
-and contrasting it, much to its disadvantage, with that of Hesperos. In
-illustration of his malignant remarks, he seems to have made much use of
-the great terrestrial charts which had been constructed at the
-observatories. The awful polar climate of the earth came out very
-unfavourably when compared with that of the corresponding regions of
-Hesperos; as did also the burning heat of the torrid zone, unprotected
-from the solar rays by a permanent screen of cloud. He dilated, with
-much relish, on the phenomena of earthquakes, volcanoes, thunder and
-lightning, deluges, droughts, great sandy deserts, and other terrestrial
-peculiarities of a disagreeable character, which were quite unknown to
-the Hesperians.
-
-As he approached the animal kingdom his spirits seem to have risen. The
-abundance on earth of loathsome and noxious types of animal life; their
-portentous fecundity; the formation of entire species which can live
-only by destroying and devouring the weaker and more defenceless, were
-happily contrasted with the innocent fauna of Hesperos, confined to a
-small number of harmless, frugivorous animals, in which the power of
-reproduction no more than sufficed to keep up the breed.
-
-But when he came to explain the nature and circumstances of terrestrial
-rational life, Van Varken’s hatred of the Yahoos burst out in a
-description which seems to have filled the Hesperian congregation with
-horror and dismay. The entrance of the human being into life through the
-same reproductive process as that of the lower animals; the redundancy
-of procreative power, in respect of the means of subsistence, which is
-one of the curses of the race; their helpless infancy; their wretched
-education; their liability to horrible and torturing diseases; their
-early extinction by death; the low civilization in which the masses
-vegetate, leading the lives of cattle; their mutual hatred; their
-incessant wars—all of these topics, and many more of a similar nature,
-were expatiated upon by the doctor with a cheerful vehemence which much
-astounded his audience, and enhanced the contrast between all these
-abominations and social life in Hesperos.
-
-As for the final question—that of the Maker of all—he began by
-hypocritically expressing his deep regret that his profession as a
-Doctor of Medicine rendered him but a badly qualified person as an
-expounder of theology; he also professed an earnest wish that a learned
-terrestrial Doctor of Divinity could be found to relieve him of such an
-uncongenial task. The reader will readily appreciate the sincerity of
-his aspirations after the help of a Yahoo divine.
-
-He then proceeded to inform his audience that the inhabitants of the
-earth, not being included, as the Hesperians, in one vast empire, but
-being dispersed in a great number of independent nationalities, which
-varied very much in their degrees of civilization, had formed for
-themselves equally varying theological systems. That those who were in
-the lowest grades, either did not recognize the Maker at all, or, if
-they did recognize him, regarded him as a fiend who was only to be
-propitiated by offering him bloody sacrifices. That there was another
-system of religious belief, the followers of which were in a much higher
-state of civilization than those last spoken of, who held that all true
-believers (meaning themselves) would be ultimately admitted to a
-paradise of sensual delights, the most effectual passport being the
-extirpation, by the sword, of unbelievers (meaning all the rest). That
-another system, the followers of which were, perhaps, the most numerous
-of any, taught that the Maker would ultimately grant the boon of
-cessation of existence to his creatures, but only after they have
-undergone a long series of transmigrations into other forms of life.
-
-At last he came to the form of religion which he described as that
-which, though not including the greatest number, is certainly professed
-by all of the most highly civilized types of humanity. Into the doctor’s
-exposition of the Christian faith we need not enter. Suffice it to say
-that when he came to the explicit statement—delivered with evident marks
-of delight—that the Maker designed the greater part of the human race to
-live everlastingly in excruciating torture by fire, the whole of the
-assembly rose simultaneously to their feet and left the cathedral. They
-would hear no more.
-
-Every word of these extraordinary lectures was automatically taken down,
-and sent through the world as fast as delivered. The whole history of
-the earth contained therein fell like a thunderbolt on the Hesperians,
-who were quite unprepared for any such revelation of the Unknown. After
-this, the notes show that the doctor had many interviews and discussions
-with people from all parts, but no memoranda of them are to be found.
-Clearly, the result of his communications was an intensifying of the
-gloom which prevailed in Hesperos. The hopes of the people, which had
-been strongly excited by his arrival, were as suddenly changed to
-despondency. And no wonder; for, certainly, tidings of such a Maker as
-the Being depicted by their visitor, were not calculated to raise any
-enthusiastic delight.
-
-Doubts seem to have sprung up among some of the Hesperians as to the
-perfect accuracy of his statements, which, as one or two of the leading
-journals pretty plainly hinted, might possibly be coloured by prejudice.
-So incredible, indeed, did some parts of his lectures appear, that two
-enterprising persons, then in the juvenescent period of life,
-volunteered to attempt the passage to the earth, if Van Varken would
-entrust them with the secret of transference. They wished to examine the
-terrestrial phenomena, both religious and temporal, for themselves.
-
-Dr. Van Varken, who was much mortified at these suspicions as to his
-veracity, received them with some coolness. He made two objections to
-their proposal. First, he was under a pledge of secrecy to Mr. Homi,
-and, secondly, the attempt would be attended with extreme peril to
-themselves. For it was quite impossible to tell beforehand what region
-of the earth they might land in; and, if they chanced on an uncivilized
-nation, death by mortal lesion, and that beyond the salutary influence
-of the Hesperian pole, would be their nearly certain fate.
-
-But his indignation at their unworthy suspicions, and his burning desire
-that an irrefragable proof of the truth of his statements might be
-afforded to the sceptics, by an actual inspection of the earth by two
-pairs of Hesperian eyes, at last overcame his scruples. He argued that,
-inasmuch as he himself had actually discovered the mode of passing the
-interplanetary space, he was, in that respect, bound by no promise to
-Mr. Homi; and that, having warned the adventurers of the risk they ran,
-his duty to them was discharged. So he gave way at last, and imparted
-the secret of interplanetary transference by the process of
-disintegration.
-
-All in vain; the disintegration was effected at once without the
-slightest difficulty; but when that stage was reached the Hesperian
-polarity proved too strong for the terrestrial influence; overcame it
-instantly, and the two missionaries to the earth, to their very great
-chagrin, found themselves reintegrated, in perfect safety, at the South
-Pole of Venus, according to the ordinary Law. It was quite plain that
-the Hesperians were absolutely bound to their planet, and that escape,
-even if it were desirable, was hopeless.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER XIV.
-
-  Of the further wanderings of Dr. Van Varken—Of his visits to Australis
-      and the great Observatory—Of a strange physical Theory concerning
-      the Tornado—Supposed cause of the Doctor’s return to the Earth.
-
-
-After the delivery of his remarkable lectures, the doctor’s notes become
-even scantier than before, and are of quite a fragmentary character. We
-can gather from them that his time thenceforth was mainly occupied in
-travelling in various directions through the country; and this is, very
-likely, the cause of the deficiencies in his memoranda.
-
-He seems to have been greatly struck with the vast engineering works
-which met him everywhere; and especially with the magnificent roads on
-which carriages, like those at Lucetta, ran on rails; these carriages
-were free to all; everyone in his turn took his share in managing the
-service, like any other calling. His first visit was to the great
-imperial metropolis, Australis, to which he of course proceeded by the
-submarine route.
-
-When he arrived there it was the winter season for the southern
-hemisphere. During the discussion on the selection of the universal
-metropolis, at the time of the union of the hemispheres, an objection
-had been raised to Australis, namely, that there was darkness for about
-one-third of the year. But, in consequence of the other advantages of
-the site, the objection was overruled, and that the more readily, as an
-artificial chemical light of extraordinary brilliancy had just been
-discovered. So great was its power that, for moderate distances, it
-nearly equalled the light of day. These were the lights which Van
-Varken, on his first arrival, saw shining in Lucetta, and on the ships
-in the bay. And thus, when he reached Australis, he found not only the
-city, but the whole surrounding valley blazing with this wonderful
-illumination. Some persons, indeed, could never reconcile themselves to
-this artificial light, so another city was, in course of time, built at
-the North Pole; and, by migrating at the proper seasons, from one to the
-other, perpetual daylight might be enjoyed.
-
-The curt and jejune memoranda which remain tell us but little of the
-metropolitan city. The points which seem to have specially impressed him
-were—The great magazines or depôts of all sorts of articles which, in
-our cities, are usually sold in the shops, and which, under the
-Hesperian system, are abundantly supplied by the communistic labour;
-from these stores everyone supplied himself as he wanted. The splendid
-museums of science and art, and the picturesque style of the houses, all
-of which were, as in Lucetta, detached from each other, and but of one
-story in height, filled the doctor’s soul with admiration. Above them
-all was conspicuous the great temple or cathedral of the Unknown God.
-The gorgeous services performed there made a wonderful impression on the
-traveller; he was specially affected by one solemn and mournful chant,
-sung in unison by the whole of the immense congregation, and accompanied
-in strangely rich and complicated harmony on the largest organ he had
-ever seen.
-
-But, beyond these few details, nought is recorded. After his return to
-the north, he paid a visit to the great Observatory whose foundation he
-has so fully described. The original structure had been removed, and the
-buildings which now occupy the site are of vast dimensions, and are
-furnished with every astronomical instrument which the great skill of
-the Hesperians is competent to execute. Specially noteworthy are the
-mechanical contrivances for moving and adjusting the ponderous
-telescopes. Though these weigh many tons, the mere pressure of the
-finger on a couple of metal knobs suffices to direct any of them to
-whatever point of the sky is to be examined; and, with the telescope,
-the platform for the observer simultaneously takes the requisite
-position.
-
-He found some of the astronomers engaged in abstruse mathematical
-calculations, in connexion with a theory which had just been suggested
-as an explanation of the chronic equatorial tornado. It was this, that
-Hesperos has a satellite of small dimensions, not, indeed, exceeding a
-mile in diameter, but of very great density; and that this satellite
-revolves in the plane of the equator with tremendous velocity, so close
-to the surface that it comes into actual contact with the water several
-times in each revolution. Hence the terrible waves and storms. Whether
-this ingenious theory was verified or not we have no record.
-Unfortunately, at the time of the doctor’s visit, the earth, being in
-conjunction, was not favourably placed for observation. He seems to have
-suffered a great deal on this excursion from the extreme rarity of the
-air.
-
-And, at this point, the notes may be said to end. Nothing more than a
-few incoherent jottings on the last remaining page are legible. From
-these I gather that he went back to Lasondre, and there, having probably
-informed the inhabitants of his surgical profession, he delivered a
-lecture on the anatomy of the human body. When we remember the
-invincible obstacle to any scientific study of the anatomy of the
-Hesperians which was presented by their conditions of life, we can
-easily understand that such a lecture, from an expert, must have excited
-unusual interest, and, combining this fact with the abundance of strong
-and profane expressions which disfigure the concluding memoranda, I
-think it not at all unlikely that some signs of a desire to avail
-themselves of the doctor’s own person for the purpose of dissection may
-have been exhibited by his audience, and may have suggested to his mind
-the expediency of a hasty return to the earth. But I wish it to be
-distinctly understood that this is only a conjecture, and not, as the
-remainder of his history, based on the explicit statements of the
-note-book.
-
-At all events the discovery of the manuscript in the University library
-is abundantly sufficient proof that the Thibetian influence was powerful
-enough to overcome the Hesperian attraction, and that he succeeded in
-getting back to the earth. So much, I say, is certain, _et hypotheses
-non fingo_.
-
-
-And here ends our knowledge of the Godless Immortals. It is not likely
-that their hundred and sixty years’ additional existence have lightened
-the World-Weariness and Sorrow which was plainly settling down upon them
-like a heavy pall.]
-
-
-             _Printed by_ PONSONBY AND WELDRICK, _Dublin_.
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-      curly braces, e.g. M^r. or M^{ister}.
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